Badminton: Top three Indian performers at Korea Open 2022

These players showcased some big moments in the tournament.

The 2022 Korea Open proved to be an exciting, action-packed tournament, with quite a lot of drama involved. The week-long competition saw some of the world’s best shuttlers face each other in thrilling matches.

Chinese shuttler Weng Hongyang clinched the men’s singles title, winning his first-ever Korea Open. Local hero An Se-young won the women’s singles title to the delight of her fans. As many as six Indian shuttlers participated at the Korea Open, with varying results.

There were three Indians involved in the men’s singles bracket and three in the women’s bracket. PV Sindhu and Srikanth Kidambi were the most impressive ones, going deep into the knockout rounds. So, let’s have a look at the top three Indian performers at the recently concluded Korea Open.

3. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty

The Indian duo of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy arrived at the Korea Open as the No. 3  seeds in the men’s doubles bracket – having some expectations on their shoulders. They started things off nicely with a solid 21-16, 21-15 win over South Korean duo Wang Chan and Shin Tae-yang in the first round. Rankireddy and Shetty faced Singaporean duo Terry Hee and Loh Kean Hean in a challenging bout in the second round.

However, they also sailed to a straight games win in this match with a 21-15, 21-19 victory to move onto the quarter-finals. Here, they faced local duo Kang Min-hyuk and Seo Seung-Jae – who had been reinvigorated thanks to home advantage. The two duos played out an absolute classic, in which the South Koreans barely won 22-20, 18-21, 22-20 to end the journey for Shetty and Rankireddy after an admirable outing.

2. Srikanth Kidambi

Srikanth Kidambi has had an eventful 2022 so far, participating in quite a few tournaments but falling short in the knockout rounds. After managing a semi-final finish at the Swiss Open, he arrived at the Korea Open with confidence on his side. He managed to get a hard-fought win in the first round against Malaysian shuttler Darren Liew, defeating him 22-20, 21-11. He would then face a daunting challenge at the hands of Israeli shuttler Misha Zilberman in the second round.

But, Kidambi showed a lot of heart to absolutely dominate his way to a 21-18, 21-6 win. He faced local hero Son Wan-ho in a tough quarter-final bout, in which he was taken to the absolute limit. But, Kidambi fought his way to grind out a 21-12, 18-21, 21-12 win to book a place in the semi-finals. Unfortunately, he faced No. 3 seed Jonatan Christie in the semi-finals. They both had faced each other in the Swiss Open semis. But, the result was the same, as the Indian shuttler faltered to a 19-21, 16-21 loss again and got knocked out from the last four.

1. PV Sindhu

PV Sindhu entered the 2022 Korea Open as India’s hope of getting some silverware from the competition in the women’s singles bracket. She started the competition really strongly, with a commanding 21-15, 21-14 straight games win over USA shuttler Lauren Lam in the first round. Sindhu continued her domination in the second-round clash against Japanese shuttler Aya Ohori, defeating her in straight games as well (21-15, 21-10).

In the quarter-finals, the competition levels rose higher, as she faced the No. 7 seed Busanan Ongbamrungphan – whom she had defeated in the final of the Swiss Open. Sindhu displayed stunning dominance in this one too and just didn’t let the Thailand shuttler ever take control. She sailed to a 21-10, 21-16 win to book a place in the semi-final.

Unfortunately, she met the No. 2 seed An Se-young, who was also the local favourite. Young made full use of the home advantage to overwhelm Sindhu and defeat her in straight games, ending the Indian shuttler’s journey, despite having a relatively dominant outing in the competition.

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