NEW DELHI: Priyanshu Rajawat has long been considered a prodigy on the court, one who keeps trying to break through with gutsy performances and spirited fightbacks. On Tuesday, the 21-year-old caused an upset of sorts when he beat reigning CWG champion Lakshya Sen in a hard-fought opening-round contest in the India Open Super 750 series. In the process, he set up another all-India showdown against the much-fancied H S Prannoy in the pre-quarters of the men’s singles.
Rajawat, who lost in the only previous meeting between the two on the BWF circuit at the Japan Open 2023, staged a remarkable comeback from a game down against Sen to win 16-21, 21-16, 21-13 in an action-packed 75-minute duel.
Showing fierce competitiveness, the shuttler from Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar smashed cross-court winners and exhibited a better defensive game to ensure another first-round exit for Sen, following the latter’s tame outing at the Malaysia Open Super 1000 series.
The loss will hurt Sen’s qualification chances for the Paris Olympics as he is set to lose crucial ranking points. With the second men’s singles berth for Paris up for grabs, the clash between Rajawat and Sen was the highlight of the opening day.
Sen is ranked 19th in the Olympics qualification rankings. The 2021 World Championships bronze medallist made 11 first-round exits in the last season and now needs to get into the top-16 by the April 28 cut-off date to secure his berth for the Summer Games.
Rajawat, on the other hand, is placed 30th in the qualification rankings and a couple of semis and final finishes in future tournaments might offer him an outside chance to pip Sen and make the cut as the second men’s singles player from India.
“Today marked my first good game in quite a while, especially after the break I took due to my back injury. Lakshya is a very good friend of mine but it was important for me to win this match and progress to the next round. I stuck to my natural playing style throughout and despite losing the first game, I was determined not to let go of the second and third games. I’m looking forward to the next game against HS Prannoy and want to give my 100% to win,” said Rajawat, who was part of the country’s 2022 Thomas Cup-winning squad.
Sen, visibly disappointed, admitted that he has been struggling to play his natural free-flowing game. “I come with a game plan and, to some extent, I am able to do it, but to do it consistently in a three-setter is tough. I still have to work a lot on playing patiently for the right chances,” he said. Asked if still considers him in the race to qualify for Paris, he said, “I’m still in the game.”
Sen’s mentor and former India coach Vimal Kumar said the 22-year-old had parted ways with coach Anup Sridhar, who was hired last year keeping Paris preparations in mind. “Sridhar was hired till the Olympics but Sen wanted to try out a few things, so they mutually decided to part ways. He needs to have a younger coach travelling with him. We’ll be able to hire someone only after the Olympics. I’ll be travelling with him till the Olympics,” Vimal said.
On a rather mixed day for home shuttlers, the other good news from the centre court came in the form of Prannoy’s victory over Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen in straight games. The Hangzhou Asian Games bronze medallist, who is ranked eighth in the Olympics qualification cycle, defeated Chou 21-6, 21-19 to advance to the second round, where he will meet Rajawat on Thursday.
Prannoy dominated the opening game against Chou and then fought back from a 11-16 deficit in the second game by winning six straight points to take a 17-16 lead and then wrapped up the match in 42 minutes.
India’s Kiran George fought valiantly but endured a 12-21,15-21 loss against Wang Tzu-Wei of Chinese Taipei in his tournament opener. The men’s doubles pair of M R Arjun and Dhruv Kapila faced a formidable challenge in Tokyo Olympics gold medallists Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin of Chinese Taipei and suffered a 9-21, 13-21 defeat.
In women’s doubles, the duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand exited the competition after a tough 21-18, 14-21 and 13-21 defeat against Japan’s Chiharu Shida and Nami Matsuyama. Earlier in the day, another Indian doubles pair of Rutuparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda went down against Yeung Nga Ting and Yeung Pui Lam of Hong Kong 6-21, 7-21.
