TAUFIK FINALLY ENDS 13 MONTH TITLE SLUMP
Jakarta Globe - Lucknow, India, was a lucky spot for Taufik Hidayat as one of the country’s most decorated badminton players ended a 13-month title drought after winning the men’s singles competition at the India Open Grand Prix Gold.
Taufik beat home favorite Sourabh Varma 21-15, 21-18 in the final at the U.P. Badminton Academy on Sunday night. It was his first title since the French Open Super Series in Paris in November last year.
“This is my first title of the year, a good consolation for me,” the former world No. 1 said.
During that 13-month span, there were very few highs and many lows and as a result he dropped to No. 12 in the world rankings. It had been a remarkable slump for Taufik, who was ranked No. 2 in May.
The 30-year-old now hopes that the victory will help kick-start his career with two big tournaments around the corner in South Korea and Malaysia.
“I hope this could be a new motivation for me to be better next year,” Taufik said.
He will need to retain his winning mentality with the Olympic qualification period coming to an end. Taufik needs all the points he can get to assure a good seed for the London Games. Only the world’s top 16 singles as of May 3 will qualify for the Games.
He’s repeatedly said that the 2012 Olympics could be his last performance before hanging up his racket for good.
Men’s doubles pair Andrei Adistia and Christopher Rusdianto and mixed doubles Muhammad Rijal and Debby Susanto fell short in the $120,000 tournament.
Andrei and Christopher lost 21-17, 12-21, 23-21 to No. 1 seeds Naoki Kawamae and Shoji Sato of Japan in the final.
Rijal and Debby fought for three games before falling 16-21, 21-18, 21-11 to top-seeded Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thoungthongkam of Thailand.
Thailand’s three-time women’s single world junior champion Inthanon Ratchanok won her first senior title when she received a walkover from compatriot Porntip Buranaprasertsuk.
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