Controversial line calls at Singapore Open badminton hurts Indians but coaches advise Anmol Kharb and Kiran George to move on

“Just forget it and move on. There’s nothing you can do,” is Pullela Gopichand’s pithy advice to all Indians. On Tuesday he was courtside to deliver it himself to young Anmol Kharb, at the Singapore Open as she lost 21-11, 24-22 to Chen Yufei.

India copped an unfair few on a terribly fraught Tuesday. Badminton, even at the highest levels – Singapore Open is a tier just below the top – does not offer review technology on all courts, and it’s especially aggravating in early rounds with side courts on non TV days.

In the first round of the Super 750, Anmol Kharb and Kiran George – yet to make a big mark on the international circuit – faced the worst of it. The opponents were both Chinese, and Kiran lost 21-19, 21-17 to Weng Hong Yang after leading 18-17 in the opener. But the takeaway was – as tough as it gets, “The players have to accept the chair umpire’s decision,” as his coach Sagar Chopda opined.

Anmol viewed playing Chen Yufei as an opportunity, and after a tentative start she was at 17-17 in the second, sending down a straight smash past Yufei’s absent backhand – a whipped hit that hilariously had the Chinese coach instinctively applauding before he froze and stopped. Anmol next employed the long rally which was troubling the Tokyo Olympic champion slightly in that she couldn’t adequately tame the Indian’s smart lifts and sent it wide. 19-17. Hopes of pushing a decider.

Yufei pulled it back with a body attack on Anmol, but the Indian sent another drilling, proper smash to Yufei’s left. 20-18.

Nerves and finishing fright might have led to Anmol spraying the next smash way wide. A proper botch up. But in the next rally, playing extremely well with one set point intact, and making Yufei hustle, the Chinese sent a cross drop on the sideline, that Anmol thought landed out. Without replays, it was impossible to judge but it was ruled in, and the score was 20-20. Anmol’s next return in the net was the worrying reaction that coaches fear mess with equanimity. 20-21.

On a day when only PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy expectedly progressed, Anmol had the chance to take the Chinese star to the decider. She shrugged off the poor call, and played perhaps the best point of the match for 21-21. A push drop wrong-footed the always assured Yufei, whose anticipation skills and footwork are legendary.

Another well constructed long rally saw Yufei go for broke, send a floater to the back corner, which Anmol believed had drifted out. The shadow of the shuttle was out, but even 20 repetitions wouldn’t give clarity without Hawkeye summoned. This was Court 3, Day 1 – with no recourse to a review. Anmol tried arguing with the umpire, who had no intention of yielding. Mercifully, she didn’t go to pieces.

Anmol has one of the cleverest push-drops – which suddenly dips after crossing the net – and she sent one that caught the great Yufei in two minds and her feet in tangles. It was rather delightful as ripostes go. 22-22. Though the inevitable followed. Anmol sent the next sailing long, and though she tried what is essentially a pullback push-drop to Yufei’s forehand net, a swell idea, the execution was imperfect and wide, and she went down 22-24, making Yufei labour for 50 minutes for her straight sets win.

Poor line calls blighted Kiran George’s match, a much closer 21-19, 21-17 margin in 47 minutes. The two horrendous line calls had a bearing, but it only highlighted how tough it gets at this level with badminton’s rationed reviews. “If they continue to argue then there’s a possibility of a yellow card,” coach Sagar Chopda said, adding BWF needs to mull over cheaper review technology implemented on all courts and across all levels of tournaments.

Parupalli Kashyap insists chances of calls being overturned are next to zilch.

“Just have to complain and make sure your voice is heard. So that it’s not getting deliberate. Or the umpires are not taking it easy,” Kashyap says. “The linesmen are doing their job the whole day from morning to evening for days together so there will be times when they are not focussed enough or haven’t seen it properly,” he explains.

“That being said you can’t do much once decision is given,” he says. It’s part of the learning curve for young Anmol.