The match was just after the high of Saina Nehwal winning the China Open womens singles, the first China Open finals where there was no chinese finalist. But what the crowd had come to see was the legend - Super Dan put on an exhibition. The commentators Morton Frost and Gillian Clarke also were gleefully waiting for Lin Dan to turn it on. But what followed was a superlative performance by Srikanth. Not only did he match Lin Dan in defence, he out manouvered him in attack. There were a few uncharacteristic unforced errors from Lin Dan, there were a few net shots that he normally wouldn't have missed, but take nothing away from Srikanth, He matched Lin Dan shot per shot and used half smashes and angles to such effect, that I saw Lin Dan struggling in his movement. Lin Dan is probably the most smooth mover on the court in the history of badminton. He glides towards the shuttle and seems to have so much time to decide which shot to play. That same Lin Dan got wrong footed twice by Srikanth's guile when he returned the short serve.
To be honest, this was not Lin Dan at his best, I have seen matches where Lin Dan was mercurial at worst and Superhuman at best. His youtube show reel is full of incredible rallies and points. But his play against Srikanth was not his worst either. He was moving well, playing his great shots but not often enough. He didn't attack as much as he should have. His deadly down the line smashes were too few and far in between. Srikanth to his credit has a brilliant all round game and if he develops his strength and fitness will be a top 10 player shortly. These are exciting times for Indian Badminton. To end with an amazing fact, the country with the most number of players in the top 100 is not china, not korea but India.....
2 comments:
An accurate description. I have not been following badminton for too long, to the extent that I had never seen Srikanth play till now. But I have seen Lin Dan being a beast and I was surprised to see Srikanth being more aggressive, dominant, so much so that he gifted some overtly aggressive points to Lin Dan in the first set by trying audacious smashes from the base line.
Wonderful article, for a young 21 year old the guy has a calm head on his shoulder's and what was refreshing to see was that Srikanth was not overawed by the occasion ( his first Super Series premier event final ) or the player he was facing ( his idol and probably the best player to grace the sport of badminton ). Sure Lin Dan made some uncharacteristic errors but lets not take anything away from K Srikanth's achievement, his fearless play, youthful exuberance and spirited performances would certainly help him jump to the next level.
A great great day for Indian Badminton today. Certainly hope this ushers in a new era for Indian Badminton.
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