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Gopichand signals India's return to the big time
March 12, 2001 - Source : IBF
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Not many Indian players have reached the final of the All England. Pullela Gopichand is now one of them, thanks to his power, his touch, and a tired Peter Gade.
It’s been a while since an Indian name appeared on the roll of honour – none since Prakash Padukone''s time, in the 80''s, which is too long to wait for a badminton-mad nation.
Yet Padukone and the whole Indian Federation''s efforts to bring India back within the top badminton countries seem to have paid off with Gopichand''s brilliant game in the All England''s semi-final. In order to reach the final, Gopichand beat no other than world number one Peter Gade from Denmark. The Dane had had a lot of trouble in the previous rounds and wasn''t starting this game in the best conditions.
"I felt tired already at the beginning of the match, which wasn''t a good sign at all. The shuttles were slow and he took advantage of it as well," said the Dane. Gopichand worked his way thorough the final by playing very cleverly, breaking the Dane''s rhythm, changing the pace of the shuttle, and challenging the Gade at the net.
Gopichand had a quick start, leading 8/1 and then 13/5 with some impressive play, scoring both at the net and with powerful attacks. Gade started to rise up his game and the Indian started to make a few mistakes to leave the Dane score 14/13. "I should have won this first game on that occasion but somehow I couldn''t," said Gade. Gopichand then won the game at the net, playing some incredibly precise strokes.
The second game looked the same as the first one, with a fast start from the Indian, leading 11/3 thanks to some straight attacks that found the side line a few times. After a splendid cross court shot at the net, the Indian had a match point in his hand. Yet he was to wait for a little longer as Gade got back on track and even led 15/14. But Gopichand couldn''t let go with such a great opportunity in front of him and tried deceptive services which worked exactly the way he wanted.
He could then let go with his joy and embraced his coach at the side of the court, after a close 17/14 - 17/15 victory.
This thrilling semi-final was tinged with sadness, as it should have been overseen by Steve Willey, but the British umpire had a heart attack the previous day during the match between Sogaard/Laugesen and Choong/Lee where he had to give Sogaard a yellow card. After feeling chest pain during the five-minute interval between the second and third games, Willey managed to get back on the chair to finish the match. He was taken to the hospital later in the evening and his condition was said to be comfortable this morning.
Gopichand will meet another strong contender in Chen Hong of China. The 2000 Dutchwinner and Chinese National Champion barely made it after saving 3 match points in the second game to Malaysian Roslin Hashim for the longest matches of the week (just short of two hours). With the Malaysian fans on one side and a Chinese group on the other side of the hall, the thrill was even greater.
In the all Chinese women’s single final, Zhou Mi is to meet the titleholder Gong Zhichao. The Olympic champion beat Gong Ruina in a suspense-less semi-final, while Zhou surprisingly left no chance to her compatriot Dai Yun. The Danishwinner got away with a 11/1 - 11/3 victory in just 27 minutes.
Rikke Olsen and Michael Sogaard will be defending Danish chances in tomorrow''s final in the Mixed double category. They beat local heroes Simon Archer and new partner Gail Emms. "I feel very good about this victory, and I hope we can do well against the Chinese pair tomorrow. We had one match point against them in the semi-final of the Olympics, so we will try to go all the way this time," said Olsen (pictured). They will play Olympic champions Gao/Zhang from China.
The men’s doubles will feature an all Indonesian final, after Sigit Budiarto and Candra Wijaya put on a great show against the Malaysian third seeded pair Choong and Lee. Less powerful but quicker and more effective, the Indonesians had to go to a three gamer. Budiarto once again ravished the crowd with one of his secret strokes behind the back followed by a defence between the legs. Wijaya will meet his old partner Tony Gunawan who teamed up with Halim Haryanto to beat first seeds Hian/Limpele.
Results:
Pullela Gopichand (IND) bt Peter Gade (DEN) : 17/14 - 17/15
Chen Hong (CHN) bt Roslin Hashim (MAS) : 10/15 - 17/16 - 15/12
Zhou Mi (CHN) bt Dai Yun (CHN): 11/1 -11/3
Gong Zhichao (CHN) bt Gong Ruina (CHN) : 11/6 - 11/3
Gunawan/Hariyanto (INA) bt Eng/Limpele (INA) : 15/12 - 8/15 - 15/8
Budiarto/Wijaya (INA) bt Choong/Lee (MAS) : 10/15 - 15/13 - 15/8
Sogaard/Olsen (DEN) bt Archer/Emms (ENG) : 15/5 - 15/12
Zhang/Gao (CHN) bt Eriksen/Schjoldager (DEN) : 15/6 - 15/8
Gao/Huang (CHN) bt Chen/Jiang (CHN) : 15/3 - 15/9
Wei/Zhang (CHN) bt Yamada/Yamamoto (JPN) : 15/3 - 15/1 |
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Other news:
» Taufik enlightens home event
» Gong Ruina scoops Indonesiatitle
» Indonesian seniors, juniors advance to semifinals
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