Round the head smash error drags Sindhu down as Indonesia Open campaign ends with narrow loss to Chochuwong

Indian Express

4 days ago

PV Sindhu's choice of the round-the-head smashes and drops, as against the backhand in the deep corner, sputtered her momentum as she went down 22-20, 10-21, 18-21 against Pornpawee Chochuwong in the second round of the Indonesia Open on Thursday.
Sindhu had done well to deploy her offense – both power and speed – into overcoming a 10-16 trailing score in the opener, and led 15-11 in the decider. The momentum seemed to be on her side, as there was no let-up in intensity or hand speed, and she was even stomping confidently at the net. But Chochuwong, who couldn't quite pierce Sindhu's flank defense (which was rather solid on the day), had a better plan lined up.
Sindhu was crackling open the Thai's game with her wide expansive cross court smashes, but when forced into quick repartees or a slightly flatter game on her backhand, her agility was severely tested and she came a cropper on the turn.
Much worse, she chose the round the head option and, given the fast conditions, Sindhu struggled to control that shot – both the quicker smash and the attempted drop. From 15-11 and 16-13 up, she lost 5 points in a row, four of those to that shot selection of the round the head.
Interestingly, Sindhu had been mired in a three-setter against Nozomi Okuhara too owing to that round the head error. Against Chochuwong, two of those exerted arching smashes and one drop were dumped into the net from 16-14 to 16-16. When the Thai took the lead, Sindhu finally went for a half-hearted backhand on the same length – but was clearly under pressure as she botched that again to trail 16-18.
She hacked at a short drop next, and got a net chord, and had levelled at 18-18 when Chochuwong sent one long going for the corners.
But as happens with Sindhu – a bunch of points that challenge her lead, bring her down psychologically in the endgame. She had fought bravely in the opening set from 19-20 down to 22-20. But at the absolute crunch, the 5\five points she gave away on a streak had once more deflated her fight.
Chochuwong picked a looping winner at the net – something that minutes ago, Sindhu was sending off quite nicely. And then the final point was the clearest indication of why Sindhu's confidence dips in the end. The problem isn't with her overall game and intensity. But the inability to finish.
A long rally at 18-20 down ensued, and Sindhu was defending gamely, running, anticipating, and even nailing some blinders to hustle Chochuwong. But all that insane defense came to nought when after the final rally – perhaps the longest of the match – Sindhu allowed an error to peek in.
Earlier, her attacking levels revealed she was capable of fast-paced exchanges, but only in patches, which meant she was putting her endurance under constant scrutiny in decoders, with a stamina-sucking second game. Sindhu is still capable of crisp and unretrievable smashing attacks, but sustaining that over longer periods can prove tough.
She acknowledged that converting close games was getting tough.'I should've converted it… was leading 16-13 in decider, but it was faster so I had to control a lot more and from there she took the lead. I made it equal 18-18. It was anybody's game at that point,' she said.
The drift on that side was indeed tricky and even Treesa-Gayatri who lost 21-13, 24-22 to Fukushima-Matsumoto struggled with the looping drops, dumping them into the net. But Sindhu had looked in good form, until an old weakness was exploited. 'I'm happy with my performance but I would've liked to have converted it to a win. Lot to learn from this match and the tournament and will now prepare for next one,' she told BWF.
Speaking to reporters in Jakarta, Sindhu also acknowledged the challenges that come with age. She's 29 now. 'Being realistic about age is important. I need to make sure I'm injury free. Maintain my condition. I'm not a junior anymore. It's important to make sure everything is going the right way. Overtraining can lead to injuries too. But if you train less, you need to keep up with youngsters. It's not gonna be easy,' she said.
The changing game style also made things tough. 'Game has changed. In 2016, it was a more attacking game. But now it's more of long rallies, clears and drops. Defense has become strong. We should be prepared for long rallies and long games. Compared to that now it's more rally based,' she said.
Yet, she was happy that things were looking up after starting to train with Indonesian coach Irwanshyah. 'Now I have a new coach. We started playing since January. It took some time to actually come together and accordingly work. When you get a new coach, it takes time to strike an understanding as coach and player. But things are going well. There's scope to improve. But I'm on the right track,' she said.
She was confident she could regain old levels. 'Playing like this I'm positive it's not far away. But again it's just one tournament at a time, and important to go back, learn from mistakes. And every tournament is fresh, every tournament new. It's not far away. I can see that, I'm positive,' she told BWF.