India have beaten favourites Thailand to win a first ever Badminton Asia Team Championships after a thrilling final that went down to the wire, the Indian women clinching it 3-2 at the end. The star of the show was Anmol Kharb, world rank 472 and aged just 17, who once again came up clutch in the most high pressure situation, this time beating world no. 45 Pornpicha Choeikeewong comfortably (21-14, 21-9) to win the decider.
What makes this title even more remarkable is the nature of it: India beat China, Hong Kong, Japan and now Thailand at the BATC, three out of four wins coming against steep odds.
Quick look at the individual match results -
PV Sindhu beat Supanida Katethong 21-12, 21-12
Treesa/Gayatri beat Jongkolphan/Rawinda 21-16, 18-21, 21-16
Ashmita Chaliha lost to Busanan Ongbamrungphan 11-21, 14-21
Priya/Shruti lost to Benyapa/Nuntakarn 11-21, 21-9
Anmol Kharb beat Pornpicha Choeikeewong 21-14, 21-9
The tie had started well for India, with PV Sindhu reminding everyone why she's one of Indian sport's GOATs. Up against Supanida Katethong, a player who's gotten the better of her on recent occasions, Sindhu brought her A-game to the party and blew Katethong away 21-12, 21-12. Her reaction after the win was muted, but after her loss in the singles and doubles had put India in a spot of bother in the semifinals against Japan, she would have relished giving her team such a solid start. On a personal note, it was also an important win as she continues her comeback from injury just months before the Paris Olympics.
India then went on to take a commanding 2-0 lead as young world no 23 Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand took out World no. 10 pair Jongkolphan Kititharakul-Rawinda Prajongjai in an absolute thriller. They won the first game 21-16 after a show of force from Treesa before letting go of an early lead in the second and losing it 18-21. Trailing in the deciding game, Gayatri's touch came to the fore, and with Treesa continue to press on the gas, the Indians took the game 21-16. With that win Ithe duo remained unbeaten in this edition of the BATC, quite the achievement considering the calibre of opponents they've faced. In fact, in team events, Treesa-Gayatri have lost only 2 of the 10 matches they've played. That's an impressive 80% win record.
In the third match, Thailand's sheer depth of quality caught up with India. Busanan Ongbamrungphan, world no. 18, beat Ashmita Chaliha (no. 53) 21-11, 21-14. The pressure appeared to get to Ashmita in a match that might have seen India sweep the final 3-0, and her unforced errors combined with Busanan's undoubted quality proved too much of a hurdle to cross. Ashmita not being able to repeat her semifinal heroics (where she beat former world champion Nozomi Okuhara) meant the pressure shifted to a doubles team making their international debut.
National champions Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra fought hard early on against the Aimsaard sisters Beyapa and Nuntakarn (world no 13), but the class of the Thai pair proved too much to handle as they lost 21-11, 21-9. This meant all the pressure was on 17-year-old Anmol in the final, up against the experienced Pornpicha.
Anmol, making her international debut in this competition, has shown a calmness beyond her age (and experience) over the past week and that shone through once again on Sunday. Despite the first game starting with a rapid exchange of points (10-10) at one stage, it was Anmol who handled the pressure better to race to a 1-0 lead, taking the game 21-14. It was a clever performance, with Anmol targeting her opponent's weaknesses and keeping her own mistakes to the minimum. In the second, she simply ran through the experienced Thai, taking a huge 11-5 lead into the break and keeping up the momentum to take it 21-9.
The moment game, match, and championship point was decided, the team rushed over to Anmol to celebrate this historic triumph. As we wrote on the blog, 'there seems to be something about team events that brings out the best in Indian badminton.'
Speaking of, you can relive all the excitement of this tie right here, on our blog:.
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