The absence of better-known lady shuttlers of the country from the 75th edition of the National badminton championship here has proved a bit of a dampener for the over-enthusiastic hosts of this bustling Haryana town.
Due to different reasons, Commonwealth gold medallists Saina Nehwal and the duo of G. Jwala and Ashwini Ponappa have stayed away from the action that begins on Wednesday. The trio, however, is expected to be here on January 10 to be part of a felicitation function.
Saina, nursing an ankle injury, is yet to start training ahead of the Korea Open (January 25-30). With the opportunities to qualify for the next year’s London Olympics lined up, Saina would obviously not like to hurry her return and risk aggravating the injury.
Jwala, a doubles specialist who confirmed her participation during a function to announce this championship last month in New Delhi, has chosen to stay away to prepare for the Malaysia Open (January 18-23) and the Korea Open.
“Actually, (a fit-again) V. Diju is back to training and we’ll be playing in Malaysia and Korea,” explained Jwala who is keen to build on the Commonwealth doubles gold with Ashwini this year.
The two-day team championship that begins on Wednesday does not offer any exciting prospects. The presence of the all-conquering Petroleum teams in both sections has effectively turned the team event an exercise in futility. With the best players in the country serving the Petroleum sector, it is a forgone conclusion that Petroleum will complete its 12th successive ‘double’ in team events since 1999.
For the individual honours, up at stake besides the prize-money, are two Maruti Suzuki SX4 cars for the singles champions. P. Kashyap is an obvious favourite after his Commonwealth Games bronze medal triumph over Chetan Anand, the defending champion here.
The experience of four-time winner Chetan, twice title-holder Anup Sridhar and the 2008 winner Arvind Bhat will be tested by the new generation of performers like Kashyap, Anand Pawar, Guru Sai Dutt, Sai Praneeth, Nanda Gopal, H. S. Prannoy and Adtiya Prakash.
If the seedings were based on the current world rankings, then Kashyap (25th), Chetan (37th), Pawar (44th) and Arvind Bhat (46th) formed the cream of seeds. However, the seedings in the National championship are based on a player’s performance in the domestic events.
As a result, a serious anomaly has surfaced with Chetan, Anup, young Nanda Gopal and Rohan Castelino forming the top bracket of seeds while Kashyap and proven talents like Aditya, Sai Dutt and Sai Praneeth are seeded between 13 and 16, in that order. This in turn means that these players will be up against any of the top eight seeds in the pre-quarterfinals when the draw is made on January 6.
Unlike the men’s section, more results in the ladies section are likely to go according the seedings. Champion Trupti Murgunde, 2008 winner Sayali Gokhale, Neha Pandit and P. C. Thulasi are seeded to be in the semifinals while Anita Ohlan, P. V. Sindhu and serious contender Aditi Mutatkar are the other seeds to follow.
Eventually, the on-court action will clearly stand out. Nothing could be more exciting than a youngster, or two, taking a leaf out of Saina’s book and pleasantly storming the national stage.
Team championship (quarterfinal line-up): Men: Petroleum v Delhi; AP v West Bengal; MP v Assam; Airport Authority of India v Railways.
Women: Petroleum v Maharashtra; Delhi v Airport Authority of India; Assam v West Bengal; Railways v Kerala.
