Gopichand crashes out

All-England badminton champion Pulella Gopichand crashed out in the quarterfinals of the World Badminton Championship on Friday, losing to China's Chen Hong, the man he beat to win the British title in March.

The sixth seeded Indian was beaten 10-15, 10-15 in 47 minutes at Seville in Spain.

Chen, the third seed, will clash with second seed Peter Gade Christensen of Denmark, who beat giant-killer Agus Hariyanto of Hong Kong 15-4, 15-8 in another quarter-final.

At the San Pablo stadium, Gopichand, troubled by a blister on his left foot, struggled with his mobility and just failed to get going. That was just the sort of edge the Chinese required to finish off the match in 47 minutes and avenge his defeat in the All England final.

In a highly tactical match, it became obvious that the Chinese had studied Gopichand's game in great depth. As such, he chose to target the Indian's strength -- the net.

While at Birmingham, Gopichand started slowly before going on to register a comfortable 15-12, 15-6 victory, on Friday things turned out to be just the opposite. It was the Indian, ranked sixth in the world and seeded sixth, who began well, attacking a lot more and attempting to mix up his game.

Leading 3-1, however, Gopi's shoe tore and he asked for a new pair, which did not settle in too well to his bandaged foot. Despite that, he stretched his lead to 6-1 before the Chinese world number four began to adapt to his style of play.

Playing a bit slower than he did while losing the All England final, Hong drew the Indian to the net, forcing him to lift the shuttle, which the Chinese proceded to kill.

Also, when Gopi decided to play Hong at the net, the Chinese invariably used a flat, fast push to the backhand corner to displace the Indian.

With Gopi finding that he was being caught out where he was usually at his strongest, he went for broke, trying to overpower the Chinese, a strategy that was never likely to find much success against the super-fit and super-fast Hong.

The match itself rarely rose to any great heights with rallies being few and far between as both men went out all guns blazing.

The result was a quick, stacatto sort of match where either a quick winner or an unforced error decided the point.

With the points not forthcoming, the five-time Indian national champion had to resort to a totally different style of play, attempting to slow the game down so as not to give Hong any pace.

But even that did not work as Gopichand's strength has never been his defence. Once it was becoming obvious that Gopichand was running out of ideas, Hong drove home the advantage in style, looking very ominous as he raced through the opening game in just 20 minutes.

In the second game, Gopichand, playing in his first tournament since the All England Championships looked more determined as he began with a brilliant point at the net and then quickly followed it up with a powerful leaping down the line smash to make it 2-0.

But the speed of the Chinese and Gopichand's sluggishness made it easy for Hong to stay with the Indian and again, Hong mangaed to displace his opponent, something which Gopichand had done so well at Birmingham.

"If he manages to keep Hong guessing, Gopi should win. If on the other hand Gopi allows the Chinese to get under the shuttle, he will have no chance," was the prediction of Prakash Padukone before the match began.

And so it turned out. With Hong dominating the front court, it was he that moved the Indian around and that is where he won the match.

In fact, Hong was playing just like Gopichand did at the All England, setting the agenda and making the world number six stick to it.

The 27-year-old from Hyderabad did all that he could, changing the strategy, slowing the tempo, serving high and even playing a totally defensive style towards the end, but nothing could shake the Chinese powerhouse as he strode to a highly satisfying victory which levelled up their personal head-to-head tally at two wins apiece.

For Gopichand this was a shattering loss, but a last eight appearance is something that only Prakash Padukone before him had managed for India and, as he goes into the remainder of the season, he will have a chance to make amends.

Results: Men's singles (quarter-finals):
Chen Hong (China) beat Pulella Gopichand (India) 15-10, 15-10
Peter Gade Christiansen (Denmark) beat Agus Hariyanto (Hong Kong) 15-4, 15-8
Taufik Hidayat (Indonesia) beat Hyun Lee (Korea) 15-12, 4-15, 15-5
P Hendrawan (Indonesia) beat Xuanze Xia (China) 15-7, 15-5.

PTI

Earlier report
Gopichand in quarter-finals