Vimal Kumar, former chief badminton coach, and now a director in the Prakash Padukone badminton academy was a happy man when I caught him talking about India’s chances in the Commonwealth Games, which are due to start on July 28 in Birmingham, UK.
He had reasons to be happy as his trainee and protege Mithun Manjunath, whom he has been training for the last 5 years in Bangalore, had knocked out Kidambi Srikanth, world championship silver medallist of 2021 and ranked world no 11 as compared to no 77 of Manjunath. Manjunath won 21-17, 15-21, 21-18. “Along with Priyanshu Rajawat and Kiran George, Manjunath is one of the top players in the Indian circuit and has been playing BWF circuit for the last 2 years approximately, but at lower levels," says Vimal.
The Singapore Open was his first major event, a BWF super series 500 tournament. As he was digesting this news of Manjunath, he also came to know that legendary Saina Nehwal whom he helped to reach the world no 1 ranking, but who was not having a good time on the circuit lately as she fought through various injuries many in the media speculated that it is time for her to retire, had not only hammered Malvika Bansod, the young compatriot who had tormented her at the India Open this year but that she also knocked out the world ranked 9 He Bing Jao. This was the first quarterfinal entry for Saina in 15 months or so.
But more about Saina and Manjunath later. First, we have his views both on team championships and individual events.
Though he feels India will collect a handful of medals in the games, it will not be so easy. Although Commonwealth games are in badminton terms very mild in standard, still there are some dangerous players lurking around to make a killing.
Excerpts
How do you think India will perform in the team event at the commonwealth games? Can we defend our title?
Though my hunch is that India will retain the team gold, they have to be wary of some teams who may not look balanced on paper but can prove to be a surprise packet. Take Canada for example. In Brian Young, they have a really tough guy who may turn the tables on any player on his day. They are also good in women’s doubles and with experienced pair in Rachel Handrich/Kristen Tsai ranked 22, they can prove a handful to our young duo of Gayatri Gopichand/Tressa Jolly.
Singapore has world champion, Loh Kean Yew, ranked 9, as is very difficult to play given his leg speed and attack. He will be a handful for any player. So I think our boys have a 50-50 chance against him. Singapore is quite strong in ladies’ doubles and mixed doubles.
England is also there. They mostly do well in the CWG…
Yes, yes. I was coming to them. England used to dominate the games for ages. They really come charged for the games. In mixed doubles, they are traditionally very strong. Their pair of Ellis Marcus and Lauren Smith is ranked 11 and their highly experienced pair of Chris Adcock and Gabrielle Adcock are ranked 19. In ladies’ doubles, they have the 14th ranked pair of Birch Chloe and Lauren Smith. So we should not take them lightly.
This leaves the Malaysian team bereft of the services of world No5 Lee Zji Jia who has backed out as he wants to concentrate on world championships. This must be music to the ears of the Indians. How do you think India will fare against them?
This should be a tricky one. I hope we defeat them. They are definitely weak because Lee Zhi is not playing. Liu Darren, ranked 30, may take his place. He is good but Laksya or Kidambi should take care of him. The next ranked Malaysian is Ng Tze Yong who is way below.
Men’s doubles also should ideally come to us as Aaron Chia/Sooh Wooi Yik lost recently to Dhruv Kapila and Arjun in the Singapore Open. Our pair Satwicksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty is far too strong for them. The only thing is that Satwik should not be injured. Moreover, Malaysia has other strong doubles players and their coaches can change combinations. So I hope we win, but it could be 50-50. Sindhu will face no challenge in singles. Yes, I strongly feel that we will prevail. But in ladies doubles, their pair of Pearly Tan and Thinnola Muralitharan, ranked 11th, will not be easy to defeat. In mixed too, they have Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying a high-ranked pair at 8. So we must concentrate and get the men’s singles and doubles, and a win by Sindhu should wrap it up. India can win 3-2.
India really played well in 2018. We should repeat the 2018 team victory but we should play with care and concentration in Birmingham.
What about the individual events. Where do we stand?
Well, we are good for gold in women’s singles where Sindhu will win. In men’s doubles, we stand a real chance to turn the silver medal Sai and Chirag got in 2018, into gold. In men’s singles, we have a 50-50 chance against the world champion from Singapore. In ladies’ doubles and the Mixed doubles, we should be happy to get medals.
So I am quite sure that the 2022 CWG will be our biggest haul in medals.
Let’s talk about Mithun Manjunath now…
Well, we are very happy with his progress. He is 22-year-old and a top player in the domestic circuit. He had reached the finals of Orleans open in France. In the quarterfinals there he had defeated the 22nd ranked Vittinghus Hans Kristen of Denmark. He has to be more consistent but he will get there. And I am happy for Saina Nehwal’s victory over He Bing Jiao. Just proves that Saina is still that fighter we know and she will continue to enthral us.
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