Badminton duo Dhruv-Arjun wins the long-awaited first international title
Badminton duo Dhruv-Arjun wins the long-awaited first international title: If they didn’t triumph in the Maharashtra International Challenge (IC) in Manakapur, Koradi Road, their coach Mathias Boe threatened to keep them in Challenge. Also, third-to-last category of competition, behind only the Future Series and the International Series.
If MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila were to win the title in Nagpur, coach P Gopichand had promised them a bye to the jamboree that would be held in Raipur the following week.
Winning on Sunday was like passing the boards or an admission test for the World Championships quarterfinalists who had never won an International Challenge (or any circuit title) before.
Now they would finally be permitted to jam with the big boys of international doubles.
India’s No. 2 doubles team needed to win a tournament in order to enter “tournament-winning” mode after suffering two finals defeats to Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy in Bangladesh and Nepal.
Arjun-Dhruv had a match point at 20-19 in the second game, but they missed, forcing a decisive third game. The longest rally took place at the beginning of the third game, but it was lost to the Thai duo of Chaloempon Charoenkitamrn and Nanthakarn Yordphaisong.
Statements
“bhai, legs tight ho gayaa,” I said Dhruv. Arjun remembers, “I had cramped extremely severely after the Thais were retrieving like real wild and the rally went long.”
This painful experience turned out to be humorous in retrospect. Dhruv would look at him pitifully and tell him he had no legs anymore. In the third, the score was only 0-1.
When they reported back to their patient coach Vijaydeep Singh that the grueling rally had tired them, he laughed out loud. That, Arjun says, “relieved the pressure.”
The team has a history of losing from match points, twice doing so in heartbreaking fashion: at the Japan Open, they were up 21-20 and a game against the Korean duo of Choi-Kim before falling.
In addition, last year at the Thailand Open, he was down 20-17 in the deciding game against the Malaysian Ong-Teo before ultimately losing 24-22.
There was a turn in fortune at the Thomas Cup, and they began winning nail-biters. Nonetheless, certainty was impossible to attain.
No certificate of completion was issued. After falling behind 13-15 in the deciding game against the Thais, the duo rallied to win the match 21-17, 20-22, 21-18 in 78 minutes and secure their full-time promotion to the major league.
When our coaches informed us it was the title or no more ICs, the stakes were high. Since there weren’t many points at stake in terms of our rankings, we took it as a challenge,” Arjun explains of the results for the World No. 26 pair.
How, from 20-19, phew
Making a mistake in match points is one of the worst kinds of self-inflicted anguish. After winning the first game, the Indians needed to rally from a three-point disadvantage in the second game to tie the score at 20. Dhruv got a fantastic high lift, and the score stayed that way.
He explains, “I considered hammering it, but they were ready for it.” The Indians thought they had things wrapped up after finding their groove, so Arjun attempted a regular dipping serve, but Dhruv mistimed his return.
Then, they had to go to the garage during the third’s opening extended rally as both tandems fought for an early advantage. After taking the first game, we knew we couldn’t afford to throw it away.
Remarks
Dhruv reflects, “We made plans, but we kept them straightforward.
While the long rally started out as just the first point of a regular decider, it soon became a contest inside a contest as neither player wanted to throw away the point.
When the third quarter rolled along, Vijaydeep told them to turn up the pressure. Even after the long rally, where all four appeared fatigued, the Indians were able to mount a strong comeback.
Dhruv-Arjun, though, played the game’s most vital aspects better and analyzed them superbly, he believes. Both Thais were doing well at smashing, and the Indians were having to work to keep the shuttle in play. However, Dhruv-Arjun finally graduated and may have finished competing in International Challenge.
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