‘Super’ Dan storms into Round 2

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 25

Badminton superstar Lin Dan moved effortlessly through to the second round of the India Open Super Series, putting in a powerful performance to outclass Tzu Wei Wang of Chinese Taipei 21-15 21-16 at the Siri Fort Complex here on Wednesday.

‘Super’ Dan is making his first appearance in the individual events in India since he completed a hat-trick of world titles in Hyderabad in 2009 and the five-time World Champion and two-time Olympic gold-medallist enthralled the sizeable crowd with delicate touches at the net, powerful smashes and athleticism around the court.

Although the Chinese player was hardly stretched, the man regarded by many as the sport’s best ever showed flashes of classic play to trounce his first round opponent in just 32 minutes.

Wang found it hard to make an impression on the agile Chinese whose lightning reflexes created an almost impenetrable defence.

Dan stays on course to meet India’s No.1 men’s singles player and world No. 4 Kidambi Srikanth if both make it to the tournament final as the rising Indian shuttler also advanced to the second round after beating Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand 21-17 21-16.

“I played better in the second game. I was okay today. I will try to improve in each game and satisfy my fans,” Dan said after his match.

Dan said he has to be at his best to win a record third Olympic gold medal at the Rio Games next year.

“I need to practise every day to be at my best. I am looking for the third gold. I am working hard for Olympics,” he said.

Easy win for Saina

Women’s singles top seed Saina Nehwal hardly broke a sweat while playing 16-year-old qualifier Riya Mukherjee as it took the world No. 2 just 23 minutes to win the match 21-5 21-13.

Commonwealth Games bronze medallist RMV Gurusaidutt, who fought his way through the qualifiers on Tuesday, pulled off a stunning 21-14 17-21 23-21 victory against South Korea’s Lee Dong Keun to advance to the second round.

“I am happy that I was able to balance my attack and defence. I attacked initially but was left trailing towards the end of the second game. I could see Dong rushing into it later, so I decided to play defensively. The tactics paid off well,” Guru said.

Another young Indian shuttler, Sameer Verma, punched above his weight to beat the Danish fifth seed Danish Hans-Kristian Vittinghus 21-15 21-17. Sameer was lagging behind in the first game but did well to level the scores at 14-all. He then completely dominated the game and raced ahead to seal the match by conceding just one point.

Other top seeds Jan O Jorgensen, Carolina Marin, Parupalli Kashyap and Viktor Axelsen also comfortably won their respective matches to sail into the next round.

Jwala-Ashwini out

However, the biggest disappointment of the day was the ouster of India’s top women’s doubles pair, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, who suffered a heart-breaking defeat against Chinese sixth seed Ou Dongni and Xiaohan Yu 21-16 21-18.