Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian reacts after defeating the current world No 2 Anders Antonsen in a 66-minute contest. (Screengrab: BWF TV)
In the year PV Sindhu won the World Championships in Basel – beating Nozomi Okuhara 21-7, 21-7 in a scarcely believable scoreline – Anders Antonsen lost the men’s singles final 21-9, 21-3 in another result that made no logical sense. And in that very venue in Basel – St. Jakobshalle – Antonsen was at the receiving end of another massive defeat, late on Thursday night. India’s Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian, ranked 64th currently, defeated the current world No 2 Antonsen 18-21, 21-12, 21-5 in a 66-minute contest.
If the second game showed Sankar could push Antonsen to the distance, the decider scoreline was jaw-dropping. Antonsen was struggling with his radar for sure, missing the sidelines repeatedly and often misjudging the length of the shuttle on the backcourt, but it still is a remarkable feat for the Indian to beat one of the world’s best by that scoreline. And perhaps, Antonsen must have had flashbacks to playing Momota six years back because the Indian proudly models his game on the retired Japanese superstar.
“Yes, I played defensive, but it’s also about precision. My offence has got sharper. I look up to Kento Momota who had great defence and control. If he could win with that style, why not me?” Sankar had told this daily earlier this year. “The criticism started in the U13s. They said he won’t survive U15s. Then they said, he’ll be hammered in the U17s. When he reached the final of the U19 World Juniors, they said, ‘Seniors is totally different’. The criticism will never stop, and when he loses, the whole team is called lacking in expertise,” Sankar’s coach Aravind added. It was his defensive solidity that often frustrated Antonsen on the night in Basel.
Earlier in the day, India’s top women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand entered the quarterfinals with a straight-game victory over Germany’s Amelie Lehmann and Selin Hubsch. The Indian pair won fairly easily with the scoreline reading 21-12 21-8. In the men’s singles second round, Toma Popov beat India’s Priyanshu Rajawat 21-15 21-17 in 47 minutes. Srikanth Kidambi, who reached round two by defeating compatriot HS Prannoy, went down against China’s world No 6 Li Shi Feng 15-21 11-21 in less than 40 minutes. Anupama Upadhyaya and Isharani Baruah also lost their women’s singles matches.
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