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Monday, March 30, 2009

INDIA OPEN - Taufik & Pi Crowned India Open Champions



It was back to winning ways for Badminton’s Prodigal Son as Taufik Hidayat was crowned the “Nizam” of the India Open 2009 at Hyderabad today. Taufik last topped a podium at the last Grand Prix Gold event in Macau. Pi Hongyan, on the other hand, scooped her first title in nearly three years while youngsters Ma Jin and Wang Xiaoli took their first title since their junior days.

By Gaurav Gupta, Badzine Correspondent live in Hyderabad.
Photos: Gaurav Gupta (live) and Badmintonphoto.com (archives)There could be no better treat for the fans gathered at the Gachi Bowli stadium than to witness Hidayat’s win against Md Hafiz Hashim of Malaysia in the men’s singles final. There were flashes of his brilliance today but first gear was all that Taufik needed to capture his first title of 2009.

The 21-18, 21-19 score line would suggest a close game but the Indonesian master never allowed Hafiz any whiff of a possibility. The Malaysian was unable to build on a 14-7 lead in the first game. A playing style that saw him matching Taufik at the net was not sufficient to compensate for his inability to come up with answers against Taufik’s brilliant outright winners.

A quick exchange of points at the start of the second left Taufik trailing 2-4 but that was all the impetus Taufik needed. 10-11 was the point score at the towel-down and both players traded some delightful strokes as Hafiz displayed when he came up with a backhand smash of a similar quality of Taufik’s much to the delight of the small Malaysian fan gathering, but it was clearly evident that Taufik was the player in charge. Stringing together a series of 4 points he leapt to a 19-17 lead from which Hafiz could never recover.

“I’m surprised by the support I got in this tournament and thank you to all the fans. I had a great time at the tournament,” commented Taufik, thereby winning himself a very special place among the Hyderabadis.

Pi Hongyan’s brilliance in making the requisite tactical changes at the right moment was critical in quelling the challenge of a spirited Julia Wong as she claimed her first major title win since the 2006 Singapore Open.

The Chinese-born French girl had to overcome frustration as she was unable to come to grips with the drift and kept serving long and hitting her lifts way past the baseline in an error-ridden first game. Taking advantage of an unsettled Pi, the Malaysian girl opened a 3-point margin from 15 all to 18-15 eventually winning the game 21-17.

Realizing that her rally style of play was not best suited to the court conditions, Pi made the critical shift in tactics and steamrolled to an 8-5 lead crafting 5 points in a row only to be chased back by Julia as they went into the mid game break with Pi trailing 10-11. Keeping the shuttle down and attacking into Julia’s body was the masterstroke the French star employed as she strung together another series of 5 straight points to claw back to a 16-12 lead and close the game 21-15 to level the match.

The setback of the second game did not seem to weigh heavily on Julia as she built a 7-4 advantage early in the third game. But it was Pi who had made the quick change necessary to adapt to the drift. Another series of 5 points for Pi saw her take control as she went up 13-9 and there was no looking back from then on. By the time Pi put together another 4 points in a row to go up 19-12, Julia had no chance of coming back. Pi claimed her Indian Open crown winning the third game 21-14.

“I realized there was a problem and told myself – it is you who has to find a solution,” Pi said later. That solution was the key to the title treasure chest for a very delighted Pi as she carried her signature happy smile all the way to the podium to collect her prize cheque.

The veteran duo of Choong Tan Fook / Lee Wan Wah quickly wiped away the disappointment of the Malaysian losses in the men’s and women’s singles finals in their “demolition derby” against the hapless Singaporean pair of Hendri Saputra / Hendra Wijaya.

It seemed like the Malaysians were hell-bent on breaking their record of the fastest finish to the first game (they had taken only 4 minutes in their 1st semi-final game against Wijaya/Riyadi) and were just prevented from doing so as Saputra/Wijaya stretched them to 6 minutes before Choong/Lee won 21-9.

Serve, Return and Attacking Smash Winner – was the formula used by the experienced Malaysians as they continued their destructive ways into the second half of the match. It was only a matter of time before the relentless attack of the wily veterans saw a meek surrender by the Singaporeans, who never looked like they’d got into the match.

17 minutes was all the time the former Asian Badminton champs needed to claim a title that seemed rightfully theirs from the outset, as they won the second game 21-11.

Hyderabad saw three repeat finalists from the last Grand Prix Gold event. In addition to Taufik and Julia, unseeded combination of Ma Jin / Wang Xiaoli came to the court looking for a golden title. The 2006 World Junior Champions took their first ever senior title, bringing the Chinese their only gold medal from this Indian outing. Faster court coverage and clean hitting from Wang Xiaoli gave the Chinese duo the upper hand right from the start.

Taking advantage of a jittery Vita Marissa, the Chinese duo directed their attack towards the more experienced of the Indonesian pair whose error-prone game was exploited.

Strings of points at key times characterized the entire match with Ma/Wang winning 5 on the trot in each game. The 21-14, 21-13 win ended in just under the half-hour mark and was testimony to the clinical finishing which has trademarked the Chinese performance throughout this tournament week.



The experienced pairing of Flandy Limpele and Vita Marissa made it a second Indonesian gold on finals day, capturing the mixed doubles title at their first tournament together since Beijing.

Putting pressure on Jwala Gutta’s heavy court movements and with the Indians forgetting that the weak link was Marissa and not Flandy, the Indonesians outplayed the home pair in the first game 21-14. Limpele/Marissa were put under pressure by the Indians in the second. The boisterous gathering helped the home pair to surge to a 17-13 lead.

But “the drift”, a major factor influencing matches in the venue, sent two drive returns from Diju sailing out. That was the only opening that the Indonesians needed to conjure up eight straight points and claim the XD title finishing off the match 21-17 in the second.

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