NAGPUR: Malvika Bansod was close to scripting one of her biggest career wins, but as luck would have it the wind was against her, and the 20-year-old went down fighting in the first round of Badminton Asia Championship in Manila on Wednesday.
Up against Singapore's world no. 16 Yeo Jia Min, the 55th ranked Malvika did everything right but had difficulty in handling the drift to bow out of the championship after a 9-21, 21-17, 26-24 loss in a thrilling 51-minute women's singles opening round match.
Playing with the wind, Malvika had an aggressive start to take the first game 21-9 by scoring five consecutive points twice.
Playing against the wind in the second essay, Malvika played her heart out, but the experienced Jia Min tasted success by winning the same 21-17 to bring parity in the clash.
The decider was a neck-and-neck battle where Singapore's Jia Min snatched an early 11-8 advantage at the break. After the change of sides, Jia Min stretched the lead from 14-8 to 18-10 but Malvika made her presence felt by scoring as many as nine consecutive points to not only level the scores but bring excitement back in the contest. The nine points scored on the trot by Malvika were against the drift.
Thereafter, both shuttlers played cautiously and the wind again played a part in the fag end where Malvika went down 24-26 in a thrill a minute contest that lasted 51 minutes.
"I think luck was not on my side today. The match was exciting, and it was a good learning experience for me," Malvika told TOI.
She elaborated, "With the wind on my side, I played aggressively and took the first game with ease. In the second game, I was playing against the drift. Though I lost the same, I managed to play better than her if we compare our scores when she was playing against the wind."
Malvika added, "The decider was anybody's game, especially after I scored 8-9 successive points. I gave a tough fight, but it was not my day."
RITIKA-SIMRAN BOW OUT
Maharashtra duo of Ritika Thaker and Simran Singhi found seventh seeded Malaysian duo of Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan, ranked 13th in the world, too tough to handle. The 80th ranked Indian pair bowed out of the women's doubles after losing their opening round tie 15-21, 11-21 in 27 minutes.
