Surprised to see Sindhu get tired: Parupalli Kashyap

Such was the quality of the women's singles final in World Badminton Championships in Glasgow on Sunday – the second longest women's singles match ever at one hour and 50 minutes – that it is still being raved about.

Exhausted by the constant long rallies, PV Sindhu and Nozomi Okuhara were trying everything possible to get back their breath.

So much so that at one stage in the latter half of the deciding game, Sindhu even got a yellow card for not being ready when Okuhara was on the court. Another warning and she faced the threat of a red card, meaning gifting one point to Okuhara.

Parupalli Kashyap, who won gold at the very venue in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, said that Sindhu could have been smarter with her tactics.

"This was one crazy match. Both played like zombies. Hats off to Okuhara. Looking at her win and her reaction afterward, I got tears in my eyes," Kashyap told DNA from Hyderabad on Monday.

"It was amazing. You can see that she fought like anything. Obviously, Sindhu also fought but Okuhara's back-to-back matches against Carolina Marin (quarterfinal), Saina Nehwal (semifinal) and Sindhu were all tough.

Physically, it takes a toll when you continuously play such tough matches. But, she just hung on till the end, and very strangely Sindhu got tired," the 30-year-old shuttler who followed the game at home on TV said.

Looking at the match's finer points, Kashyap, who is training to participate in the Korea Open and Japan Open Superseries in September, said: "There were some crucial points in the match where the rallies got extended more than required. Sindhu should have been smart with her condition.

"Everyone in the Sindhu camp must have been thinking that Okuhara was already tired after her tough three-game matches against Carolina and Saina in the previous two days. So, let Sindhu push her. But, Sindhu must have to be in check of her situation also – if she could last the whole match."

Kashyap, 46th ranked in men's singles, felt that Sindhu should have conserved her energy for the last stages of the third game. "As it happened, Sindhu got stuck often and allowed Okuhara to close in on the gap. In some of the rallies, even though they got prolonged, Sindhu should have tried some winning shots and taken a chance. You cut short the rally and give yourself 50:50 margin so that in the end stages of the third game, you will have more energy," Kashyap said.

"The players know if they are going to last up to 21st point in the third game. One has to be smart about it and conserve some energy for the last few points. Saina messed it (in her semifinal). Okuhara was not playing the high intensity rally (against Saina). She was way out of the match against Saina than against Sindhu. Saina was totally dominating and suddenly lost the second game and was running out of gas.

"Against Sindhu, Okuhara bounced back well from the halfway. Sindhu was leading 11-5, 11-8, 11-9 at the halfway interval in each of the games. Then, the deficit was covered and the match became neutral with anyone-can-win types.

"Sindhu winning the second game at 22-20 was an advantage. Had Sindhu won the second game easily, Okuhara would have had more energy to fight in the third. It became so close and I thought Sindhu had the chance to win.

It was surprising that Sindhu got tired and she was not able to push. Even one per cent energy in the legs would have won her the match pretty comfortably. But, both were tired in their legs."

Okuhara is used to long matches. In fact, she was involved in the longest women's singles in the history when she lost to Wang Shixian of China in the 2015 Malaysia Open Superseries Premier quarterfinals in one hour and 51 minutes.

Kashyap has said that Sindhu has done it in the past of conserving energy till the end to eventually win. "Perhaps, Sindhu was thinking that Okuhara might get tired. But she was not and suddenly it was she who was getting tired. Had she conserved energy for the last stages even if she was 4-5 points down, she could have come back. She has won so many matches like that by being down in the end stages and winning it"

But Kashyap admitted that this World Championships was meant to be Okuhara's. "Okuhara was relentless. Down 17-19 in the third, I thought she was gone. But she held on. Maybe his World Championships was written for her."

Did you know?

World champion Nozomi Okuhara (JPN) has been involved in the first two longest women's singles matches in badminton history – 1hr 51 min vs Wang Shixian (CHN) in Malaysia Open SS Premier, 2015 and 1hr 50 min vs PV Sindhu (IND) in World Championships on Sunday

Best ever performance: Padukone

Legendary badminton player and former All England champion Prakash Padukone said on Monday that the Sindhu-Okuhara title clash was "the best ever performance by an Indian sportsperson in the history of Indian sports".

It was a match that Sindhu eventually lost 19-21 22-20 20-22 to settle for India's second bronze at the Worlds.
Padukone, India's first medal winner at the World Championships in 1983 with a bronze, said from Bengaluru that "Sindhu showed tremendous amount of grit, determination, fighting qualities, never-say-die attitude and stamina in a nail-biting encounter".

"Both players displayed very high quality of badminton and never gave up till the end. All aspiring youngsters would do well to emulate the qualities displayed by these two players. Hats off to Sindhu."
Padukone had a message for Sindhu. "You have done Indian badminton proud. Keep up the good work until you get the gold. It is only a matter of time before you achieve your goal," he said.