When the draw for the 2018 badminton world championships was released, of all the Indians in the fray, not many would have thought that Ashwini Ponnappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy would get themselves within one win away from a historic medal.
India have never won a medal of any colour in mixed doubles at the world championships and considering Ashwini and Satwik have played together in only nine tournaments since first pairing up last year, expectations from them were not very high. Especially after they were handed quite a difficult draw, coming up against the 15th seeds, the seventh seeds and the top seeds in their quarter.
However, four days into the world championships, Ashwini and Satwik have set up a quarter-final clash against the top seeds and silver medallists from the previous edition, China’s Siwei Zheng and Yaqiong Huang.
To get here, Ashwini and Satwik beat the Malaysian world No 7 pair of Soon Huat Goh and Shevon Jemie Lai in the third round on Thursday. The Indians, ranked 39th in the world, lost the first game narrowly 20-22 before coming back to comprehensively win the next two 21-14 and 21-6 to set up a meeting against the Chinese world No 2 pair.
This was the second time Ashwini and Satwik had beaten Goh and Lai this year. The last time they did it was in the quarter-finals of the Commonwealth Games, when the Indians won in straight games. One of the most noticeable traits in their matches at Gold Coast was how Ashwini, the senior stateswoman, took on the leader’s role and guided her teenage partner through.
It was more of the same in Nanjing as the 28-year-old was seen constantly talking to Satwik, seemingly motivating him to keep up the momentum even when the Indians were trailing in the first game. Ashwini and Satwik committed two service faults after having a 19-17 lead to hand the game to the Malaysians. Such errors can often demotivate players.
However, Ashwini kept herself and her partner pumped up as the second game began. From 9-9, the Indians just broke free. Ashwini, who won the women’s doubles bronze at the world championships in 2011, was superb at the net and even got in a few smash winners, but the real surprise was Satwik.
The 17-year-old, who tends to be slow at the net, was brilliant with his dribbles and was an imposing presence, letting down smashes from the fore-court that were unplayable. “We could see they were shivering to play with us so that gave us confidence,” Satwik said after the match.
The Indians stepped up the aggression as the third game began and the Malaysians had no idea what to do. Goh took one too many tumbles to the floor thanks to Ashwini and Satwik’s aggressive play and there was no coming back for the seventh seeds.
“In the second and third games, we were quite sure of what our strategy was,” said Ashwini. “We stuck to it because we knew it was working. It was important for us to stay focussed on what we had to do.”
Beating the top seeds in the quarters will be no cake walk, but the Indians are prepared to give their best. “We’ve got nothing to lose,” said Ashwini, who is out of the women’s doubles already, while Satwik is also knocked out of men’s doubles. “We will give our 100% tomorrow.”