Badminton Nationals: Ruthvika Shivani loses to PV Sindhu in semis but wins fans in Nagpur

Nagpur: Minutes before her semi-final against PV Sindhu at the senior national badminton championships, Ruthvika Shivani Gadde walked out of the players’ enclosure and into the fans’ seating area to get a bottle of water.

Gadde is a former national champion and had come out on top the last time she had played Sindhu competitively – in the final of the 2016 South Asian Games. However, hardly anyone even gave her a second look as the 20-year-old picked up the bottle from the refrigerator and walked back into the enclosure.

Less than 20 minutes later, chants of “Shivani! Shivani!” were echoing through the Nagpur Divisional Sports Complex as Ruthvika bossed Sindhu in the first game of the semi-final. The two were locked at 7-7 before Ruthvika went on an incredible run of eight straight points to put the game out of Sindhu’s reach.

Sindhu fought back briefly in the latter stages of the game, but Ruthvika wasn’t letting this go so easily as she worked the Olympic silver medallist around the court and won the first game 21-17.

By then, the Nagpur crowd had switched over to chanting “Jai Bhavani! Jai Shivani!” – Bhavani, incidentally, is her father’s name – and the atmosphere was electric, with a major upset on the cards.

#BadmintonNationals finals:@Pvsindhu1 vs @NSaina @srikidambi vs @PRANNOYHSPRI

What a lineup! pic.twitter.com/9Gpwf8sWcs
— The Field (@thefield_in) November 7, 2017

However, Sindhu, who had looked in second gear until then, flicked a switch and went on to win the next two games quite comfortably – 21-15, 21-11 – to book a spot in the final against Saina Nehwal.

“I played well but made a few errors [in the second game],” said Ruthvika after the match. “I was mentally a little down after that. In the third game, she was quite dominating. I tried to come back, but couldn’t.”

Despite the defeat, Ruthvika said she would definitely gain some confidence from her performance in these Nationals, given she reached the semi-finals after qualifying from the opening round. “I tried my best here – I could have done a bit more, actually – but, okay, next time, I guess,” she said.

However, it is the international circuit where Ruthvika said she now needs to perform. Her career has been plagued with various injuries – she played the Nationals with a knee brace – both small and big since that defeat of Sindhu last year.

As a result, she has failed to get past the quarter-finals of any international tournament she played in this year. “I need to work much harder because the international circuit is not so easy,” she said. “I need to work hard on my fitness, strength and movements.”

In the other semi-final, Saina Nehwal overcame Anura Prabhudesai 21-11, 21-10 to set up a dream final with Sindhu.

K Srikanth downs Lakshya Sen

Earlier, the most anticipated match of the semi-final day, between world No 2 K Srikanth and junior world No 3 Lakshya Sen, turned out to be a damp squib of sorts. If you just look at the score – 21-16, 21-18, it would seem that Sen, last year’s finalist, did not play all that badly against a man who has won four Superseries titles this year.

While that may be true, the 16-year-old, who has raised everyone’s expectations since beating HS Prannoy in the previous Nationals and rising to junior world No 1 earlier this year, was definitely not playing at his 100%.

After losing the first game without much of a fight, Sen fought back briefly towards the middle of the second game, but made a couple of unforced errors at crucial intervals in the second game. A few of his jump smashes, which are his strength, flew wide.

“There wasn’t a lot of depth in his jump smashes today, unlike Srikanth,” said Sagar Chopda, Sen’s travelling coach from the Prakash Padukone Academy. “He also tried many drops and flicks instead of going for his smash, which is his strength. While dribbling too, he made a few errors.”

Sen is still a work in progress, Chopra said, adding that the teenager will learn a lot from this experience of playing a world-class shuttler like Srikanth. One of the things that Sen will be working on is his body language. “If you see him off the court, he’ll give you the impression that he is not very active,” said Chopda. “He isn’t like that on court but his body language can improve.”

In the other semi-final, HS Prannoy defeated Subhankar Dey 21-14, 21-17 to ensure that finals day is going to be one to remember for badminton fans across India.