Jakarta: India's decision to go in with makeshift doubles pairs backfired as the the women's badminton team came second best to Japan in the quarterfinals of the Asian Games here on Monday.
National coach P Gopichand picked Arathi Sara Sunil to pair up with the experienced Sikki Reddy in the doubles tie against world No. 1 pair Sayaka Hirota and Yuki Fukushima after P V Sindhu had given India the lead with a win over Akane Yamaguchi in the first singles.
Arathi and Sikki lost in straight games as Japan made it 1-1. It was expected that the experienced duo of Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki will team up in one of the doubles matches. Instead Ashwini partnered Sindhu against the world No. 2 pair of Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi. India lost that tie too in straight games to crash out and thus failed to repeat the bronze-medal winning effort from Incheon in the last edition.
Ashwini, however, backed the decision to try out the new pairs in the crucial fixture against the Uber Cup champions.
“I don’t think it was a gamble. It was a well-thought out decision. Sindhu and I last played together in the 2016 Uber Cup and we had given a fight to the Japanese. We also won a crucial match against Thailand in the last Asian Games when we won the bronze. They (Matsutomo and Takahashi) are the Olympic gold medallists for a reason. They used the variations to good effect with their smashes,” said Ashwini.
Problem area
Ashwini, though, was quick to point out India need to have good bench strength in doubles. “We need to have more options with our doubles teams. We don’t have that big a pool like other countries,” she said.
“We have a long way to go as a nation when it comes to doubles. All the other countries focus on doubles from a very young age,” she added.
Ashwini also made it clear that it was the coach's call to pick a particular doubles combination. “The last two years, I have left the decision to the coach. So whatever he decides, I go with that," she clarified.
