Hyderabad: All of 13 years old, Sai Vishnu Pullela has got pretty large boots to fill. His father, chief national coach and former All England champion Pullela Gopichand, is one of the most respected names in Indian badminton. The moment young Vishnu picked up a racquet he would have known of the gigantic task ahead of him.
As of Wednesday, he is doing quite all right.
Vishnu was one of the 578 shuttlers who signed up for the men’s singles qualifying rounds of the All India Senior Ranking Tournament in Hyderabad. This is one of the two tournaments that the Badminton Association of India has marked as a selection trial for the 2018 Asian Games, which explains the number of entries.
This was Vishnu’s first senior ranking tournament. He is currently India No 3 in singles and No 1 in doubles, along with his partner Pranav Rao Gandham, in the Under-15 category. But this was a different kettle of fish.
Never-say-die attitude
In his first qualifying round, Vishnu was up against a shuttler 10 years his senior in Sai Surya Narayana Pravee Borra, but the teenager coasted through that match 15-8, 15-6 in just 12 minutes.
In round two, he took on 17-year-old Gautam Arora and was trailing 11-14 in the first game (the qualifying matches have 15-point games) before he levelled it 14-14 but went on to concede the game 15-17.
He then conceded a match point in the second game at 14-15 but went on to clinch it 17-15. The third game he won rather easily at 15-11.
In round three, Vishnu was up against another 17-year-old in Chirag Seth. Once again, Vishnu conceded a tight first game 15-17 but then stepped on the gas in the second, winning it easily 15-6. In the decider, however, his opponent found another gear himself and had a sizeable 8-4 lead at the interval. It looked like Vishnu was down and out.
That was not the case, though, as the 13-year-old won six points in a row to take a 10-8 lead and then went on to win the game 15-12 and move into the final qualifying round. One more win and he would be in the main draw of his first senior ranking tournament.
It wasn’t to be, however, as Vishnu was easily beaten by Alap Mishra, the India No 3 in the Under-19 category, 15-13, 15-11. After playing seven matches in two days, including doubles, his batteries had finally drained out.
Despite his exit in qualifying, Vishnu is definitely one to watch out for. He’s got a good rallying game and plays some very supple drop shots and flicks. He also likes to use a jump smash whenever necessary. At just 13 years of age, he’s got a lot of potential to grow – physically, mentally and tactically.
With his sister Gayatri Gopichand, who is India No 1 in the Under-17 category, also making waves on the national circuit – she reached the quarter-finals of the senior ranking tournament in Bengaluru last week – it’s safe to say the Pullela family name is in safe hands.
Sourabh Verma battles on
Elsewhere, Sourabh Verma battled through the four rounds of qualifying to enter the main draw. The 25-year-old is fresh – only figuratively – from winning the Bengaluru tournament last week, where he also had to come through the qualifiers.
Verma has now played 14 matches in the last eight days, which is bound to have taken a toll on his body as he enters the main draw in Hyderabad. He had beaten three seeded players, including top seed Pratul Joshi in the final, and former junior world No 1 Lakshya Sen, in Bengaluru on the way to the title.
Verma hasn’t been troubled much in Hyderabad apart from Shreyansh Jaiswal, who stretched him to three games on Wednesday in the third qualifying round. Verma won a tight first game 15-13, before completely capitulating in the second to lose it 5-15. The third game was an even tighter affair than the first as both players fought valiantly right till the end, before Verma edged it 16-14.
Thursday is not going to any easier for Verma, who has only recently returned to the circuit after a string of injuries. If he gets through his opening round of the main draw against Raghu M, Verma could face top seed Pratul Joshi in the second round itself.
The two had last squared off as recently as Sunday, in the final of the Bengaluru tournament, where Verma had to come back from a game down to win the championship match 17-21, 21-14, 21-18. That match had lasted 72 minutes. Verma might not have the legs if it goes the distance again.
Full list of qualifiers who have reached the main draw
Men’s singles: Rohan Gurbani, Sourabh Verma, Aditya Gupta, Kaushal Dharmamer, Abhishek Kapila, Vaibhav Jadhav, Hemanth MG, Kanishq M, Kishore S, Orijit Chaliha, Sai Charan Koya, Sankalp Chandragurala, Siddharth, Jaswanth D, K Ravikumar Sasikumar, Hirak Jyoti Neog, Aman Kumar, Maisnam Meiraba, Aditya Bapineedu, Sarath D, Akash Chauhan, Kiran B, Gopalakrishna Reddy D, Alap Mishra, Nikhilshyam Sriram, Mani Gandan R, Mohit Tiwari, Ajay Meena, Pranav Rao Gandham, Ajay Satish Kumar Nair, Saurabh Pandeyar, Veda Vyas Sai Anumula.
Women’s singles: Shavi Bhatnagar, Abhilasha A, Shivani Vaishnav Devi Gangula, Mrunmayi Saoji, Unnati Bisht, Lakshmi Priyanka SS, Lakshmi G, Aditi Verma, Vibhuti Sharma, Preethi K, Kavipriya S, Niranjana AJ, Aashi Rawat, Namita Pathania, Charuta Vaidya, Khushi Gupta, Bhavya Rishi, Richa Muktibodh, Ananya Goel, Ritika Thaker, Rutura Joshi, Ruhi Raju, Pranavi CSR, Rashi Tyagi, Durva Gupta, Mamitha Kadari, Meenal Rautela, Apeksha Nayak, Meghana Reddy M, Savita RN, Saziya Khan, Adya Parashar.
Men’s doubles: Ishaan Bhatnagar / Priyanshu Rajawat, Amrith B / Vishnu Prasad, Sanjai Srivatsa D / Siddarth Elango, Balasubrahmanniyan NG / Sreejith R, Kabir Kanzarkar / Akshay Raut, Sanidhya Bandooni / Gaurav Deswal, Sai Rohit B / Akash Chandran, Nitish Bora / Kashyap Neog, Sharon Raphel / Sunjith S, Karan Choudhary / Tarun Panthri, Kapil Chaudhry / Brijesh Yadav, Edwin Joy / Aravind V Suresh, Krishna Prasad G / Dhruv Kapila, Bennet Antony / Suraj PH, Siddharth / Neeraj Vashisth, Aman Raikwar / Akshan Shetty.
Women’s doubles: Srishti Jupudi / Preethi K, Arundhati Pantawane / Anoushka Parikh, Bhargavi K / Vaishnavi K, Kavya Gupta / Khushi Gupta, Supriya Balli / Vanshika Kapila, Pragya Singh / Radha Thakur, Ashmita Chaliha / Kanika Kanwal, Shivani Santosh Singh / Mayuri Yadav, Simran Singhi / Ritika Thaker, Rutaparna Panda / Arathi Sara Sunil, Navya Rao M / Vimal Banhee MAS, Pinky Karki / Tapaswini Samantroy, Apeksha Nayak / Bhavya Rishi, Srivedya Gurazada / Sai Shriya Yanamandra, Sinymol PS / Leela Lakshmi R, Sazia Khan / Parssa Naqvi.
Mixed doubles: Aman Raikwar / Aditi Verma, Yash Raikwar / Shavi Bhatnagar, Ankit Kumar / Nupur Wadhwa, Akshan Shetty / Kalpita Sawant, Dilshad K / Diksha Choudhary, Vaibhav Jadhav / Hazel Sehrawat, Ashith Surya / Pranjal Prabhu Chimulkar, Navaneeth Bokka / Sahithi Bandi, Shubham Yadav / Pinky Karki, Krishna Prasad G / Mahima Aggarwal, Tushar Sharma / Mayuri Yadav, Sanjai Srivatsa D / Simran Singhi, Sai Rohit B / Nila V, Siddharth / Rashi Lambe, Nihar Kelkar / Shenan Christian, Gautam Arora / Preethi K.