What are the takeaways from India's All England Open 2022 campaign?

Lakshya Sen was the pick of the lot for the Indian contingent as he won a silver medal.

The 2022 edition of the All England Open saw a lot of young Indian players making their debut at the event. The youngsters delivered promising results, even as senior players found it difficult to make things work for themselves.

The tournament was a mixed bag for the Indian shuttlers. While some youngsters managed to impress, the experienced ones disappointed. Here is a look at all the positives and negatives the Indian team should take after the All England Open 2022.

Positives

Lakshya Sen's fairytale run

20-year-old Lakshya Sen achieved what no Indian man could in the past 21 years. The shuttler from Almora reached the final of the All England Open and became the youngest Indian to do so. Lakshya showed great courage in the entire tournament. His outstanding zeal and perseverance showed that he wasn’t an easy target, but a threat to the entire men’s singles circuit.

Sen’s road to the final had some stiff challenges. However, he managed to defeat World No. 3 Anders Antonsen in the second round and defending champion Lee Zii Jia in the semi-finals. The level of form the Indian young gun displayed, shows his true potential to play at the highest level. Maturity and awareness were the biggest aspects of Lakshya’s game. He couldn’t win the title, but won a lot of hearts.

Treesa-Gayathri's incredible showing

Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand made their debut at this year’s All England Open. The duo entered the tournament as underdogs, as they were promoted from the reserve list in this tournament. However, this proved to be the biggest break in their careers. The women’s doubles pair reached the semi-finals of the tournament in their maiden appearance. They also became the first-ever Indian pair to do so. On their way, the pair stunned World No. 2s Lee So-hee and Shin Sheung-chan in one of the most thrilling matches at the tournament.

The level of gameplay and talent shown by the young players has surely ensured the bright future of Indian women's doubles, which hasn't produced a solid pair since Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa. They showcased a perfect blend of net play and back court attack, which is one of the vital aspects of the discipline.

Consistency of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy & Chirag Shetty

The duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty had a decent showing at the All England Open, where they reached the quarter-finals. They won the India Open 2022 previously. Although they lost to World No. 1s Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo in the last eight, they had a pretty good tournament. The pair would surely look forward to converting their results in the coming tournaments. They would be aiming to make it to the top five in the BWF World Rankings, as they revealed in an exclusive chat with Khel Now.

Negatives

PV Sindhu’s early exit a matter of concern

World No. 7 PV Sindhu entered the All England Open with the hope of bettering her semi-final result last year. However, things didn’t go as planned for her. The former world champion had an early exit from the tournament in the second round, losing out to Sayaka Takahashi. This isn’t the first time when the two-time Olympic medalist has lost to a lower-ranked player. Her form in previous major tournaments hasn’t been satisfactory since her bronze medal win at the Tokyo Olympics. She would certainly hope to improve her game at the upcoming events.

No outcomes in mixed doubles

The mixed doubles challenge at the All England Open was led by the pairs of Ishaan Bhatnagar-Tanisha Crasto and Venkat Prasad-Juhi Dewangan. But, both the pairs couldn’t manage to clear the opening round in their debut at the All England.

Early exit of Kidambi Srikanth

Former World No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth entered with a lot of high hopes to perform better at the All England Open this year. The World Championship silver medalist did seem to confidently move around the court, but unfortunately couldn’t turn the tide in his favour, as he lost to Anthony Ginting in the second round.

Srikanth was taken by surprise Ginting, as he was absolutely dominated by the Indonesian. Srikanth did face a lot of difficulties in and struggled to gain momentum in the match.

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