India Open badminton: Sindhu’s extreme reliance on defence is just not the way in which ahead

PV Sindhu left the event the identical method she had left final 12 months – dropping to Thai lefthander Supanida Katethong, besides the 21-14, 22-20 loss this 12 months got here in Round 1. The gradual courts have been sure to see the Thai southpaw suck the velocity out of Sindhu’s strokes, and he or she moreover lured the Indian favorite to the online the place she confidently killed off her fairly complicated exchanges.

Coached by Korean Kim Ji-hyun, who was accustomed to Sindhu’s recreation, Supanida had pin level directions coming her method – first to decelerate the sport and take the punch out of strokes, and later to check Sindhu defensively.

It’s been a persistent drawback with Sindhu, the place her defensive options to cleverly tempo manipulating gamers just like the Thai, find yourself leaving her neither right here nor there when an all-out assault might have been a greater choice. That form of aggression and assault comes naturally to her, than the lengthy grinding rallies, however for some motive, Sindhu enters the defensive labyrinth after which appears misplaced attempting to push the tempo nearing the top of the set when it’s too late.

On Tuesday on the KD Jadhav corridor too, Sindhu was troubled by the southpaw’s angles, although she performed a totally completely different recreation than final 12 months, when she had rained down soar smashes on the Indian. Today she went for the opposite excessive – totally gradual drops and tosses, whilst Sindhu appeared listless in her motion, barely committal to the defensive work fee that was wanted if she was going to attend for who-blinks-first.

By the time she went on the offensive within the second, preserving tempo with Supanida, the duty had change into too onerous and he or she was seconds away from an early exit, which put stress on her.

Soon after her Delhi loss, Sindhu had overwhelmed the Thai at Lucknow on the Syed Modi, by taking part in a completely aggressive recreation. Her efforts to prop up her protection – although serving to bolster her rally building — are by no means going to fetch her wins. This when what she wants is brief, crisp attacking play, with ideally a rise in velocity.

However, her extreme reliance on protection, citing the toll the years have taken on her physique, is incongruent with the gamestyle she ought to attempt to construct — an attacking recreation that reduces match durations.

What is confounding in her staff’s considering is how she plans to guard towards accidents by taking part in a brutally taxing defensive recreation as defensive video games are typically.

Against Supanida all these questions got here dashing again, as Sindhu finds herself on the crossroads. Her repertoire of strokes has broadened, her motion is smoother thanks to teach Park. But the unflinching dependence on protection as a method of play isn’t fairly figuring out.

Having mentioned she is eager on focussing on the Sudirman Cup to peak, Sindhu will get a while to return to the drafting board. But her staff might want to make up their minds on the defensive conundrum as a result of at her core, she is a blazing attacking shuttler.