Second seeded shuttler at a loss for words after first round elimination from Tata Open
Second seeded Arundhati Pantawane made a tearful first round exit from the Tata Open International Challenge after going down 21-17, 13-21, 13-21 to Indonesia’s Ana Rovita at the Cricket Club of India badminton courts yesterday.
Arundhati Pantawane in action against Ana Rovita at the Tata Open yesterday at CCI. Pic/Shadab Khan
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“What can I say. It was just not my day. I don’t know what happened. It is very disappointing. She played so well and she was very confident. All her strokes were coming off,” the World No 46 said about her 145-ranked opponent.
“I blanked out in the second game. I knew my mistakes, but still wasn’t able to rectify them. Before the game I was confident of beating her, but I faltered and committed a lot of errors. I couldn’t take the defeat and took some time to come to terms with it,” added Pantawane.
The 24-year-old though lauded her opponent. “She is a very good player. I have seen her during the Indonesia Open. I was playing her for the first time but little did I know that I would face defeat in the first round itself,” said Pantawane who trains at the Gopichand Academy.
The Indonesian was leading 14-11 in the first game before Pantanwane caught up at 14-14. Later the Indian surged ahead with three straight points. Her drop shots were very effective. She made the Indonesian run around and dictated the points to win the first game.
In the second game, it was Ana’s turn to make Pantawane run for each point and she maintained a comfortable lead and won it 21-13. Pantawane seemed to have given up in the third game and committed a lot of errors.
An elated Ana said she had prepared well. “I was aware that my opponent was ranked second. I knew that she would be under pressure playing at home and I needed to give my best shot,” said the 20-year-old.
Meanwhile, another Indonesian Dinar Dyah Ayustine beat third seed Tanvi Lad 21-14, 21-17. In the men’s singles, junior national champion Aditya Joshi, the World No 790, got the better of World No 128, Sameer Verma 21-19, 16-21, 21-19, while Harsheel Dani beat seventh seed Shubhakar Dey 21-16, 21-12.u00a0
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