It was a mixed day for the Indian badminton contingent, with three singles victories and two doubles losses. Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth all won their opening round fixtures against relavitely lesser favour opponents. Women’s doubles pair Jwala Gutta and Aswini Ponappa fought valiantly against world number 1 seed Japan's Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi to go down 21-15, 21-10. However, members of the Indian contingent have expressed worries about the slow shuttle speed here in Rio.
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Speaking exclusively to Sportskeeda from the stands, Jwala said, “I think we did really well and our analysis of them was to a certain extent right. We have trained really hard for this event, and we got a positive result, especially the first set where we pushed them till the end. There were some really good points and gives us confidence heading into our next couple of matches.It’s also important that we use the first round to get rid of the cobwebs, so that we can focus on the next few matches.”
A common complaint among several of the shuttlers present at the venue was the slow shuttle speed. Jwala added, “Yes, even when we were training the shuttle speed was relatively slow as compared to the International standard. During the first match as well, we felt that it was a bit difficult to get onto the shuttle, but I think we need to just keep playing and we will get used to it. It affects judgement a little bit, but at this level we must be able to adapt to whatever we have. The only solution is to continue playing.”
A relatively slow shuttle means that a lot of one’s smashes have the possibility to go longer as there is more power generated during the hit. Even Saina Nehwal faced a similar problem in the first set. She said, “In the begin, the shuttle was relatively slow, hence I was over timing my shots. The first round was very tricky, and I have to give it to the Brazilian crowd, they know how to put on a show and cheer for their players. My coach (Vimal Kumar) asked me to focus on court movement and rallies as it was the best way to get used to slower shuttle speed and adapt to it before the next few rounds. It was a tough match and credit to Vicente she played very well.”
Saina had a close shave against local favourite, world number 72 Lohalayla Vicente narrowly winning 21-17, 21-17. Meanwhile, Jwala and Ashwini are all set to face Piek and Mushkens of Netherlands at 4:30 PM IST today.
