Indian star was penalised by referee for taking too long to serve; Sindhu says Yamaguchi also took time and calls it ‘unfair’ .
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Shared News: May 1, 2022 3:35:39 pm
The head-to-head between Sindhu and Yamaguchi is now 13-9 in the Indian’s favour. (BAI)
Akane Yamaguchi won 30 points after one was gifted to her by the referee, while penalising PV Sindhu for taking too long to serve in the second set. Sindhu was comfortably leading 21-13, 14-11 in the semifinals of the Badminton Asian Championship at that juncture. The Indian reckons the referee’s penalty which got the score to 14-12 in the mid set, impacted her to such an extent, that she went on to lose the match 21-13, 19-21, 16-21 in 66 minutes. Sindhu could win only 21 points after that roiling episode as against the Japanese shuttler’s 30.
It can safely be said in hindsight given Sindhu’s long argument with the chair, that a set and 14-11 up against the reigning World Champion, wasn’t as comfortable a cushioning as Sindhu would’ve liked. Because her mind couldn’t move on from what she viewed as gross unfairness, and said as much later. The semifinal was lost in the head at the halfway stage, and the trigger was clearcut.
A little backgrounder to the day’s aggravation: Sindhu won the toss, chose a favourable drift side of the court and completely dominated Yamaguchi in the opener as the Japanese struggled with her control on the shuttle lengths and a range that had gone awry. Sindhu led 8-2, 10-5, 12-6, 14-8, 18-11 and 20-13 – a comfortable lead. It is the best mind-spaces to be in against the World No.2 who’s won the World Championship and All England: create as big a buffer in the score as possible to parry Yamaguchi off.
The first hint of Yamaguchi finding her radar came in the second set latter half, when while still trailing 12-9, the Japanese started pinning Sindhu to the backcourt and started playing deceptive drops to the forecourt.
Outrageous! https://t.co/JCoUcg9G5G
— Ajay Jayaram (@ajay_289) April 30, 2022
At 12-10, Sindhu challenged unsuccessfully for a backline call that went in Yamaguchi’s favour. Sindhu responded typically with increased hand-speed on 13-10. It was at the next point that the camel’s back caught a synaptic twitch. In a long, fast-paced rally that followed, Yamaguchi retrieved with wild throwing of her short arms on both flanks to win the point at 13-11. The 2-point game was too close for comfort.
Remember, Sindhu had survived a match point in 3 arduous sets in her 77 minute Round 1 match, beaten He Bingjiao in an emotional wringer again in three in quarters, and was bracing for a possible final against Korean nemesis An Se Young (though the Korean lost to the Chinese Wang). Anyone would’ve wanted to wrap up the semis in straight sets, but here was Yamaguchi, calmly climbing back into the contest. Sindhu took it to 14-11 but had received prior warnings for delaying her serve by the umpire, but this one cost her a point.
What just happened
Yamaguchi isn’t the most still of serve receivers, and was fidgeting, while Sindhu took even longer to get the rally started. It’s here that the umpire asked her to return the shuttle and gave a point to Yamaguchi. It bordered on the harsh, though wasn’t out of the rulebook, with prior warnings. Sindhu raised her arm in dissent, and argued saying, “Sir I was ready, she wasn’t.” The chair was unmoved and Yamaguchi got the serve. 14-12. The argument went longer than the ordinary – and badminton isn’t exactly known for players’ defiance. Feeling hard done by legitimately owing to the point penalty (and narrowing of the gap), Sindhu visibly imploded from thereon.
Yet, this is Sindhu. And she sent a brutal smash piercing to make it 15-13. But the concentration had been tampered with and Sindhu dragged out the bad patch, by stabbing the shuttle into the net and losing the deft touch, to concede the lead at 15-16 with net errors. The next bunch of returns sailed wide and long as it reached 17-19, but an agitated Sindhu still had the crackling energy to smash from mid-court to level at 19-all.
Yamaguchi kept her wits to eke out the narrowest of cross net tumbles and force a decider at 21-19. Sindhu was still in the fight, but too buzzed with a wounded frame of mind.
“The umpire told me you are taking too much time. And even the opponent wasn’t ready at that point. But the umpire suddenly gave her the point. It was really unfair,” she told Badminton Asia, later. “I think that was one of the reasons I lost I felt. I mean that was my feeling. At that minute, 14-11 and you never know, I mean, It could’ve been 15-11 and all of a sudden it was 12-14 and she took continuous points. And it was very unfair. Maybe you never know I could’ve won the match and played the finals I felt. And I told the chief referee, he’s come and said it’s already done. I mean as a chief referee, he should’ve made sure what was the mistake done. Seen the replay. And done something about it,” she said.
The 15-11 Sindhu speaks of was one of the many possibilities that could have panned out. What did happen though was a decider where Yamaguchi took an early lead from the not-so-helpful side – a clear giveaway that Sindhu was still stewing over the episode.
Having found her own range, now Yamaguchi was her usual retrieving self, with wild cross swats slapping at the shuttle at whichever angle catching her fancy and troubling Sindhu. She sent down the most imbalanced one-legged hop smashes at 8-6, and kept sending deep, clean smashes to the backcourt.
Sindhu is a fighter and in the biggest revamps of her games for the past 6 years, stomps around the net with conviction. She would employ a net-press to come within 14-17 of Yamaguchi. Yet, there was that added unsettling edge to her strokes, trying too hard, over-hitting, rushing that was a remnant of her upset mind, and which wouldn’t allow her to settle. Knowing she held the lead for the match, she needed someone to tell her to calm down and get past the episode. But having worked so hard to get into that position to finish it in two, she simply didn’t look like she had the poise to again fight in the decider.
Rallies got longer as the score reached 14-19, but Yamaguchi was too assured and solid in her game by now to be thrown. For some time now in the pressure matches against top players, Sindhu has shown her reluctance to switch to Plan B if A comes undone. Shifts in momentum are inevitabile against the likes of Yamaguchi and Tai Tzu Ying, and Sindhu makes enough errors to know she can absorb a 14-11 to 14-12 situation. A calm head is a non-negotiable against the Top 5 who keep it together and can be broken only if she doesn’t get frayed. But such was her rage at the unfairness of her penalty, that the towering Sindhu allowed a long shadow to fall on her game to lose a semifinal.
