G. Jwala and Ashwini Ponappa provided just the kind of healing touch the bruised hearts of a packed audience at the Siri Fort needed.
And Saina Nehwal made it even better. After P. Kashyap was on the wrong end of a questionable call at 18-all in the decider and went on to lose to Rajiv Ouseph in the men's singles semifinals, the two determined girls bounced back from the loss of the opening game to put it across Australia's He Ting Tiang and Wilson Smith for the third time in as many meetings.
Jwala and Ponappa won 12-21, 21-13, 21-11 to ensure at least a silver. The second seeded Indian pair will clash with top seeded Singaporean duo of Sari Shinta Mulia and Yao Lei.
Saina sizzles
Later, Saina overpowered Scotland Susan Igelstaff 21-10, 21-17 to set up a much-anticipated clash with second seeded Malaysian Wong Mew Choo. Saina raced away with the first game after shaking off some early resistance. In the second, Igelstaff played better and even led 17-16 but Saina raised the bar to take the match.
During the 47-minute women's doubles' semifinals, the Indians started tentatively and surrendered the opening game rather tamely. In the second game, the Indians attacked relentlessly and discovered that the Aussie defence was suspect. The aggressive tactics of the Indians paid off and the result was never in doubt.
“There was pressure on us once Chetan and Kashyap lost,” said Jwala after the match. “Yes. The crowd did help by getting up pumped up. I played too fast in the first game and it did not work. In the second, we slowed down the game and attacked more,” said Jwala who excelled from the back of the court while Ashwini controlled the net.
For the crowd, the double-delight came after the twin-tragedy in the men's semifinals. Though Chetan lost predictably to World number one Lee Chong Wei 11-21, 12-21 in just 24 minutes, it was the defeat of Kashyap that was painful for most present.
Bad call
Having narrowly won the first game at 19 and losing the second at 12, Kashyap was up 11-6 in the decider and raised visions of repeating the victory posted in the team championship semifinals last week.
However, Ouseph fought well to catch up at 16 and never looked back. At 18-all, Ouseph's shot appeared to have gone out but the linesman ruled it in. This disturbed Kashyap and the audience. The damage to Kashyap was done and he went on to surrender the game and match.
“You all saw it,” said Kashyap about the disputed point and added, “It was clearly out.” Looking back at the match, Kashyap said, “I was making mistakes, was playing it (my game) very simple. No cross shots were there. No one expected the match to be like this. I was confident on all points. We both were playing good and the rhythm was going equal for both of us, but I got nervous and things went wrong.”
The results (semifinals): Men singles: Lee Chong Wei (Mas) bt Chetan Anand (Ind) 21-11, 21-12; Rajiv Ouseph (Eng) bt P. Kashyap (Ind) 19-21, 21-12, 21-18.
Women singles: Saina Nehwal (Ind) bt Susan Igelstaff (Sco) 21-10, 21-17; Wong Mew Choo (Mas) bt Liz Cann (Eng) 21-12, 18-21, 21-17.
Women doubles: G. Jwala and Ashwini Ponappa (Ind) bt He Ting Tiang and Kate Wilson Smith 12-21, 21-13, 21-11; Sari Shinta Mulia and Yao Lei (Sin) bt Jenny Wallwork and Gabby White (Eng) 21-19, 21-13.
Mixed doubles: Koo Kien Keat and Chin Eei Hui (Mas) bt Chayut Triyachart and Yao Lei (Sin) 19-21, 21-16, 21-18; Nathan Roberston and Jenny Wallwork (Eng) bt Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying (Mas) 19-21, 21-13, 23-21.
