The Denmark Open 2024 is going on. The Indian shuttlers have performed poorly in the competition so far. Lakshya Sen and Malvika Bansod have been knocked out of the first round. The former was in sensational form in the Paris Olympics and started the match well. But he could not keep up his winning momentum giving away the lead from the second set and was outplayed in the third. PV Sindhu qualified for the next round.
But it has been a poor show all over from the other players. On Wednesday, the country’s challenge ended in both women’s and mixed doubles competitions of the Denmark Open Super 750 tournament in Odense, Denmark. Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand (women’s doubles) and B Summeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy (mixed doubles) could not perform as per the expectations. They suffered heartbreak three-game defeats in their opening contests.
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri lost a game lead to lose 21-19, 17-21, 15-21 to fifth-seeded Malaysia’s Pearly Tan and Muralitharan Thinaah in a one-hour and 14-minute women’s doubles opener. Something similar happened in the mixed doubles, Sumeeth Reddy and Sikki Reddy also blew a game lead. Losing 22-20, 19-21, and 22-24 against Kevin Lee and Eliana Zhang of Canada in one hour and two minutes.
Indian Shuttlers lack intensity and a fighting mentality
Do Indian shuttlers lack the intensity and mentality? Giving away the lead after winning the game has been an old problem for the Indian shuttlers. We saw Lakshya Sen giving out the lead in two back-to-back games of the Olympics 2024 and losing out on the medal. Fitness has been a concern everyone looks rusty from recently returning to competitive play. But it does not square with the upset victories pulled off regularly.
Later on Wednesday, Unnati Hooda will face Lauren Lam of the United States in her first-round women’s singles encounter, while Satish Kumar Karunakaran will face Li Yang Su of Chinese Taipei in the men’s singles. With Sindhu and these two shuttlers mentioned above India still have a chance for a podium finish in the competition.
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