“Ladki peeche se achchi nahi hai. Ladki ko peeche lagao. Udake dekho.”
(The girl isn’t playing well from the back. Toss it up and move her back.)
Sumeeth Reddy, sitting in the stands at the Gachibowli indoor stadium, must have yelled this instruction to Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki Reddy at least five times during their Hyderabad Open semi-final match against Hong Kong’s Wing Yung Ng and Tak Ching Chang on Saturday.
India’s top-seeded mixed doubles pair did not quite heed to Sumeeth’s advice in the first game, in which they managed to keep a two-point gap over the Hong Kong duo throughout before winning it 21-19.
Sumeeth even had some advice regarding the male, Chang, in the Hong Kong pair. “Usko do baar same side mat khilana. Usko bhagao.” Don’t make him play from the same side twice in succession. Make him run.
It took a much more spirited display from Chang and Ng in the second game before Pranaav and Sikki finally appeared to listen to Sumeeth’s instructions. Till the interval, the two pairs went neck and neck. After the break, the Indians broke free, as they made Ng play from the back and got Chang to move around.
Sumeeth even had some advice specifically for his fiancee Sikki, which he yelled in Telugu, before the Indian pair won the match 21-19, 21-15 to book a spot in the final, their first of the year. Whether India’s doubles coach Tan Kim Her appreciates it or not, rest assured Sumeeth will be there again on Sunday to motivate them against Akbar Bintang Cahyono and Winny Oktavina Kandow.
Indians will feature in two other finals on Sunday. In an all-Indian men’s singles semi-final, top seed Sameer Verma once again needed a wake-up call before he could get past RMV Gurusaidutt. Sameer had lost the first game of his quarter-final against Pratul Joshi 16-21 on Friday and went down by a similar scoreline against Gurusaidutt.
But like the quarter-final, Sameer steadied himself in the second game and took control of the match, winning it easily in the end: 16-21, 21-15, 21-11. He will take on Malaysia’s Soong Joo Ven, ranked 91 in the world, in the final and should be the favourite to win it.
In men’s doubles, top seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty had no trouble at all getting past compatriots Sanyam Shukla and Arun George. Satwik and Chirag hardly broke a sweat as they won the match 21-14, 21-16 in just 27 minutes to enter their second final of the season, after the Commonwealth Games. Unlike at Gold Coast, the world No 21 Indian pair will hope they can bag the gold over Indonesia’s Akbar Bintang Cahyono and Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahani, ranked 47th.
Considering the depleted field at this tournament, anything less than a win in all three finals will be a disappointment for India.
The women’s singles final will be contested between fourth seed Joy Xuan Deng of Hong Kong and Ga Eun Kim of South Korea. The women’s doubles final will be between Hong Kong’s Tsz Yau Ng and Malaysia’s Sin Ying Yuen.
