Sai Vishnu Pullela challenge at Senior Ranking Badminton tournament ends in last qualifying round

Sai Vishnu Pullela challenge at Senior Ranking Badminton tournament ends in last qualifying round

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Pullela Gopichand’s son Sai Vishnu Pullela made it to the last round of qualifiers for Senior Ranking Badminton tournament in Hyderabad where he lost to Alap Mishra 15-13, 15-11. The 13 year old, who has been ranked third in the U-15 singles, was playing the first senior tournament of his career.

Sai Vishnu Pullela has got pretty big boots to fill in the form of his father, Pullela Gopichand. Gopichand, the chief national coach and former All England champion, who has been one of the most respected names in Indian badminton. The moment young Vishnu picked up a racquet he would have known of the gigantic task ahead of him. However, he has been doing quite well to keep up with the expectations. 

Vishnu was one of the 578 shuttlers who signed up for the men’s singles qualifying rounds of the All India Senior Ranking Tournament in Hyderabad. This tournament has been picked by Badminton Association of India as one of the two tournaments to be represented as selection trials for the 2018 Asian Games. This was Vishnu’s first senior ranking tournament but he has been ranked No 3 in singles and No 1 in doubles, along with his partner Pranav Rao Gandham, in the Under-15 category. But this was way above the level he has been used to playing.

In his first qualifying round, Vishnu was up against a shuttler 10 years his senior in Sai Surya Narayana Pravee Borra, but the teenager breezed through that match 15-8, 15-6 in just 12 minutes. In round two, he took on 17-year-old Gautam Arora and was trailing 11-14 in the first game before he levelled it 14-14, but went on to lose the first game 15-17. But he made an excellent comeback in the second game and clinched the game 17-15. The third game he won rather easily at 15-11.

In round three, Vishnu was up against another 17-year-old in Chirag Seth. Once again, Vishnu conceded a tight first game 15-17 but then picked up his rhythm in the second, winning it easily 15-6. In the decider, however, his opponent found another gear himself and had a sizeable 8-4 lead at the interval. It looked like Vishnu was down and out. That was not the case, though, as the 13-year-old won six points in a row to take a 10-8 lead and then went on to win the game 15-12 and move into the final qualifying round. One more win and he would be in the main draw of his first senior ranking tournament.

However, it wasn’t a fairytale ending as Vishnu was easily beaten by Alap Mishra, the India No 3 in the Under-19 category, 15-13, 15-11. After playing seven matches in two days, including doubles, his batteries had finally drained out.

Despite his exit in qualifying, Vishnu definitely made his mark in the qualifiers. At just 13 years of age, he has got a lot of potential to grow and built his game. With his sister Gayatri Gopichand, who has been No 1 in the Under-17 category, also making waves on the national circuit as she reached the quarter-finals of the senior ranking tournament in Bengaluru last week, Pullela family certainly have been taking the domestic circuit by storm.

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