New Delhi: Sankar Subramanian Muthusamy, currently ranked 64th in the world, awed the world of badminton on Thursday evening by defeating Anders Antonsen in the pre-quarter finals of the Swiss Open Championship, being played at Basel. Antonsen is currently ranked 2nd in the world.
After losing the first set 18-21, Sankar came back in the second, allowing Antonsen to score only 12 points. In the decisive third set, the World no 2 couldn’t go beyond 5. While Antonsen did look a bit off colour, missing the sidelines and misjudging the length of the shuttle on the backcourt, this doesn’t take anything away from the cool and composed 21-year-old Indian, who has often been criticised for being a bit too defensive on occasions.
The game lasted 66 minutes, during which Sankar had the upper hand throughout. He will face World no 31 Christo Popov of France in a few hours from now, for a berth in the semis of the prestigious tournament. Popov has had a good run in 2024.
Sankar has always defended his style of play. Speaking to The Indian Express a few months ago, he had said: “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?”
His coach Aravind hadn’t spared the critics either. “The criticism started in the U-13s. They said he won’t survive U-15s. Then they said, he’ll be hammered in the U-17s. When he reached the final of the U-19 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,” Aravind had said.
Sankar was the former No 1 player in the World Junior circuit. In 2022, he won silver in the World Junior Championships, before qualifying for the Swiss Open. This will be his second Super 300 quarterfinal of the year.
All eyes – particularly those belonging to Indians – will be on the quarterfinals on Friday, as Sankar is the only singles contestant from the country left standing in the Swiss Open. The doubles duo of Teresa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand advanced to the quarterfinals with a dominant 21-12, 21-8 win over Germany’s Amelie Lehmann and Selin Hubsch.
It has been a heartbreak for Indians such as Isharani Baruah and Anupama Upadhyaya. While Baruah lost to China’s Han Qian Xi 19-21, 21-18, 18-21, in a hard fought 63 minutes match, Upadhyaya put up a great fight against Purti Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia, ranked 11th in the World. Upadhyaya lost 17-21, 19-21.