Indian badminton star Parupalli Kashyap squandered a dominating position to crash out of the Indonesia Open as he lost to 8th seed Kento Momota of Japan in Saturday’s semifinal. Kashyap created a sensation by defeating world no.1 Chen Long in quarterfinal on Friday but against Momota, errors at crunch points, when the game was tilted in the Indian’s favor cost Kashyap the match as he went down in three games after 71 minutes. The other highlights on Saturday was provided by a growing rivalry between Korea’s Men’s Doubles pairs and fighting spirit of Indonesia’s top women’s doubles duo in their semifinals matches at the BCA Indonesia Open 2015. The event has seen the fall of many seeded stars in each category and Sunday will see new champions except perhaps Denmark’s Jan O Jorgensen, who has survived the unprecedented super-series carnage. The 2014 men’s winner will meet Kento Momota in the final after his semifinal opponent Germany’s Marc Zwiebler retired in the second game. In the women’s semifinal Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon defeated Wang Shixian and she will play the final against Japan’s Yui Hashimoto, who accounted for another Chinese Wang Yihan. There was joy for Indonesia as their women’s doubles team of Nitya Krishinda Maheswari and Greysia Polii rode on overwhelming crowd support to oust China’s Yu Yang/Zhong Qianxin in three tense games. In the final on Sunday, Maheshwari/Polii will take on another Chinese combo of Tang Jinhuai/Tian Qing, who beat compatriots Ma Jin/Tang Yuanting in the other semifinal. The mixed doubles final on Sunday will be an all-Chinese affair as Zhao Yunlei/Zhang Nan will take on Xu Chen/Ma Jin. The men’s doubles final will be played between Korea’s Ko Sung Hyun/Shin Baek Choel and China’s Fu Haifeng/Zhang Nan.
Kashyap was facing Momonta after two years and the Japanese had beaten the Indian in their earlier encounter. In the first game, Kashyap held an upper hand and took an 11-8 lead. From there, the Indian reeled off six consecutive points and finished the game 21-12 in 16 minutes. In the second game, it was Momonta, who took an early 5-1 lead but Kashyap bounced back to make it 9-5 by winning 8 consecutive points. However, Kashyap failed to keep the momentum going and with the Japanese applying pressure, Kashyap’s game became erratic. The Japanese took the second game at 21-17. In the decider, badminton became thrilling as both players produced scintillating display to make the game equally poised. However Kashyap broke away to 15-10 lead. Just when Kashyap should have played with control, he simply frittered the match away as Momonta didn’t allow Kashyap much leeway and sealed the match with an audacious drop shot to win at 12-21, 21-17, 21-19.
Momonta will take on Denmark’s Jan O Jorgensen, who came through as his opponent, Germany’s Marc Zwiebler, retired midway through second game. Zwiebler had been sick overnight but he did play valiantly in the first game, which Jorgensen took at 21-17. However when the Dane led 11-5 in the second, Zwiebler couldn’t continue and retired.
Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon played superbly against China’s Wang Shixian with an authoritative 21-19, 21-13 victory in the semifinal. Intanon will play the final against Japan’s Yui Hashimoto, who defeated another Chinese Wang Yihan 21-17, 9-21, 21-17. In women’s doubles, Indonesia’s Nitya Krishinda Maheswari/Greysia Polii brought the house down and defeated China’s Yu Yang/Zhong Qianxin 21-18, 10-21, 21-16. In Sunday’s final, Maheshwari/Polii will take on another Chinese pair Tang Jinhuai/Tian Qing, who beat compatriots Ma Jin/Tang Yuanting 16-21, 21-14, 21-17 in the other semifinal.
The mixed doubles final on Sunday will be an all-Chinese affair as Zhao Yunlei/Zhang Nan will take on Xu Chen/Ma Jin. While Zhao Yunlei/Zhang Nan defeated Indonesians Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir 16-21, 21-15, 21-18; Xu Chen/Ma Jin easily beat Denmark’s Joachim Fischer Nielsen/Christinna Pedersen 21-15, 21-19. In the men’s doubles, the Korean duo of Ko Sung Hyun/Shin Baek Choel shocked their more celebrated compatriots Lee Yong Dae/Yoo Yeon Seong 21-17, 21-18 to enter the final, where they will take on China’s Fu Haifeng/Zhang Nan. On their part, Haifeng/Nan beat Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan 22-20, 18-21, 21-15.
