Anup fails to pull the plug

Dev S Sukumar

Jaipur, February 18: As Anup Sridhar stepped up to serve match point at 24-23, second game, the crowd held its breath. One point was all that he needed to nail Shong Seung Mo, the Olympic silver medallist, no less, in the third match of the Thomas Cup (Asian Zone) semifinal between India and Korea on Saturday.

And then Anup served high.

He'll probably be asked a hundred times why he chose that high serve when he knew Shon has one of the biggest smashes in the game. He'll probably ask that question of himself a thousand times.

But it doesn't matter any more, because he served high, Shon smashed, went on to take the game, and destroyed the Indian national champion in the deciding game to see his country register a comfortable 3-0 verdict and enter the Asian Zone final.

Not that Anup's win might have made a big difference to the team's fortunes. India's best hope Chetan Anand, after his remarkable wins against the fancied Kendrick Lee (Singapore) and Ng Wei (Hong Kong) earlier, looked sluggish against Lee Hyun Il, the All England runner-up. He kept up the challenge briefly at the beginning of the match, but then succumbed to the Korean's big jump smashes.

The doubles pair of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas, which pulled off a surprise win over Hong Kong on Friday, fell tamely to the superior firepower of Lee Jae Jin and Han Sung Hoon.

And then it was Anup's turn. Like Chetan, he had won both his matches leading up to the semifinal, and he matched Shon stroke for stroke by reducing the pace of the rally and not allowing the Korean to get in his big smashes. At 21-22, game point for Shon, a stroke of luck favoured the Indian -- a line call went his way -- and he went on to take the game.

The second was a thriller all the way. The Indian kept catching Shon with his deceptive flicks and half-smashes, and began to poke holes on the Korean's forehand side. He seemed to have sewn it up at 20-16, four match points.

But then he faltered, making two misjudgements at the baseline and serving high when he had to keep the shuttle low. Two more match points came and went, both on the high serve, and the Korean just about squeezed through the second game. The third was a washout, as Anup looked too disappointed to pose a challenge.

Indian Chief Coach Vimal Kumar could only shake his head. "Anup couldn't serve low under pressure. He tried to hurry Shon at match point... we didn't expect to upset Korea, but it would have been good if we could've won a couple of matches."

Korea will take on Malaysia in the Asian Zone final. The Malaysians had few problems overcoming pre-tournament favourites Indonesia, whose top two singles players looked as disinterested in their semifinal tie as they had all through the event.

Olympic gold medallist Taufik Hidayat went through the motions against Lee Chong Wei, before bronze medallist Sony Dwi Kuncoro did likewise against Hafiz Hashim.

It took Indonesia’s doubles teams to salvage the tie. Luluk and Alven had equalised Taufik’s loss with a tough set win over Chan Chong Ming and Koo Kien Keat, but then Sony’s loss meant that the pressure was back on Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan.

The two held their nerve, just they had in an earlier group game against Thailand, and helped Indonesia equalise. It was down to the final match: Simon Santoso versus Kuan Beng Hong.

Simon had rescued Indonesia against Thailand in the pivotal fifth match, but this time he couldn’t pull it off against Kuan Beng Hong, the ABC silver medallist.

Results: (click for detailed scores)
First Semifinal: S Korea bt India 3-0 (Lee Hyun Il bt Chetan Anand 21-13, 21-10; Lee Jae Jin/ Han Sung Hoon bt Rupesh Kumar/ Sanave Thomas 21-17, 21-12; Shon Seung Mo bt Anup Sridhar 22-24, 27-25, 21-10).
Second Semifinal: Malaysia bt Indonesia 3-2