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VV Natu badminton tournament: Gadde trumps Pune shuttler Mundada in final
Gadde beat Mundada 21-10, 21-17 in straight games; in men’s singles, Chhattisgarh’s Siddharth Singh defeated Jagadeesh Kalaga
Commonwealth Games’ gold medallist Ruthvika Shivani Gadde eased past tournament’s 13th seed and Pune’s Shruti Mundada in the women’s singles final of the Yonex Sunrise VV Natu All India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament. Gadde, 22, earned a comfortable straight game victory over her opponent at the Modern Sports Complex on Sunday.
In the men’s singles, Chhattisgarh’s Siddharth Singh, who eliminated the top seed of the tournament in the semi-finals, won in the final against Jagadeesh Kalaga from Andhra Pradesh. Singh also notched a straight game victory over his opponent.
Gadde v Mundada
Shruti Mundada had a nervy start to the game as she over-hit three successive shots which landed outside the court, gifting three crucial points to her opponent. The 25-year-old recovered in time to cut the deficit down to one point after controlling and placing her smashes well. Gadde, however, did not allow her opponent to come close or take the lead in the first game. Gadde was brimming with confidence, and apart from a silly swing and a miss, she did not commit any errors throughout the first game.
Gadde had a three-point lead at the interval of the first game. Mundada’s footwork and strokes seemed a bit chaotic and rushed. The local shuttler seemed intimidated by her young opponent. The game after the interval saw quite a few thrilling rallies, in which it was Gadde who emerged with a point in most of them. As Mundada was livid with herself after misplacing one of many strokes, Gadde pounced on the opportunity and used Mundada’s vulnerability to her advantage by extending her lead to six points.
Throughout the first game, Gadde earned a lot of points through Mundada’s over-hit shots which landed on the wrong side of the borderline as the 22-year-old snatched the crucial first game of the final with a score of 21-10.
In the second game, Mundada did not change her strategy and played an attack-minded game. After seeing her first smash go into the net, she placed her second perfectly to get off the mark.
Mundada was very inconsistent in the final as she misplaced a few more easy smashes. As a result, Mundada had to forfeit the lead as Gadde played a reserved defensive game. Mundada seemed a tad nervy yet again as she failed to return a simple serve by Gadde, as she hit the shuttle straight into the net. She calmed herself down and eventually got a smash and a drop shot on point to cut down Gadde’s lead to a couple of points.
For the first time in the match, Gadde committed a few errors as she played a wayward stroke, which was followed by an over-hit smash. This slack shuttling allowed Mundada to reinstate parity at the ten-point mark, but Gadde won the following point to maintain a lead at the second interval as well. Compared to the first game, Mundada was better in the second, but she still could not outclass Gadde.
While Mundada was fighting back, Gadde was composed and satisfied as she nicked crucial points off her opponent. Mundada almost levelled the points towards the seventeen-point mark, but that was it. The local shuttler failed to earn any more points as Gadde scored three successive points off two smashes and shot by Mundada which ended up against the net, to win in the final.
Kalaga v Singh
Unlike the women’s singles, the men’s singles final was difficult to predict after the first game. Both the players came out all guns blazing in the final and were reliant on just smashes to earn points. Kalaga and Singh earned all their initial points via smashes and half-smashes. With the scores staying tied almost till the end of the game, it could have gone either way.
Drop shots and round the heads were a rarity in a game which included an outrageous number of smashes. Singh had a slender one-point lead at the interval in the first game. The 21-year-old was able to return plenty of Kalaga’s hard-hit smashes. Kalaga on the other hand was also able to deflect Singh’s well-placed smashes to stay within touching distance of him. The 20-year-old seemed hyper after the interval, with his movement looking a bit rushed.
After touching the fifteen-point mark, both players were panting, but neither wanted to switch their tactic in this enthralling encounter. There were some rallies which included staggering smashes which were met by equally stunning returns. Throughout the first game, neither player was able to take a lead of more than one point. The scores were still tied as both players reached the twenty-point mark.
Kalaga smashed the shuttle into the net towards the closing stages of the first game, but recovered well with his following smash to make it 21-21. Singh came up with another smash of his own and then the 21-year-old was able to catch Kalaga on the wrong foot, and finally earned a crucial hard-fought victory in the first game of the final.
Singh finally decided to change his strategy in the second game. With a crucial lead to his name, Singh took a calmer and defensive approach in the second game. It worked well for him as he took an early 3-1 lead in the game, but it did not stay the same for a long time as Kalaga struck back and levelled the score again. The fightback was not enough to send Singh into panic mode as he stuck to his new conservative strategy.
Singh played a few drop shots and forehand round the head shots in the second game which did manage to put Kalaga in a tough spot as Singh re-extended his lead to three points. He possessed that lead till the interval of the second game. The game did not see a lot of errors as both players were focused. However, Singh’s switched tactics worked for him as Kalaga was unable to cut the deficit down.
Towards the end of the second game, Singh managed to hit a few powerful smashes past Kalaga to earn some more crucial points. Using his height and jump, Singh was able to hit powerful dropping smashes which Kalaga could not return. Kalaga reached the fifteen points after which it was completely Singh’s game. The 21-year-old was cool and composed and finished the second game after earning four successive points.
QUOTES:
“Takeaways from this tournament are confidence and self-belief. I am on the right path. I am working on my fitness, game and strategy and there has been improvement. That got me to the final. I am going to have a few off days, but I have to learn from my mistakes.”
- Shruti Mundada, runner-up, women’s singles
“I have been playing continuously since the past four days, which makes this victory extra special. Pune is very lucky for me because I have never lost a match in this city and I am happy that the streak is still intact.”
- Ruthvika Gadde, winner, women’s singles
“I need to be more patient. I think I was under pressure because of which I could not give my 100 per cent. I did not play my natural game, because even though I am an attack-minded player, I do not attempt so many smashes in a match.”
- Jagadeesh Kalaga, runner-up, men’s singles
“I was a bit nervous because I lost my previous final in Bengaluru. I played some strong rallies which helped boost my confidence. It was a very close first game, and could have gone either way, but in the second game I switched the strategy and that worked in my favour.”
- Siddharth Singh, winner, men’s singles
Results:
Finals
Women’s Singles
Ruthvika Shivani Gadde bt 13-Shruti Mundada (21-10, 21-17)
Men’s Singles
Siddharth Pratap Singh bt 14-Jagadeesh Kalaga (23-21, 21-15)
Women’s Doubles
1-Shikha Gautam & Ashwini Bhat bt Sahithi Bandi & Nila V (21-12, 21-17)
Men’s Doubles
4-Vignesh Devlekar & Deep Rambhiya bt 2-Krishna Prasad & Shlok Ramchandran (Walkover)
Mixed Doubles
6-Krishna Prasad & Ashwini Bhat bt 7-Vignesh Devlekar & Prajakta Sawant (21-15, 21-16)
