CWG badminton: An erroneous line call pushes Kashyap out

NEW DELHI - An erroneous line call at 18-all in the decider let India’s Parupalli Kashyap down and enabled second-seeded Rajiv Ouseph of England to enter the men’s singles final of Commonwealth Games badminton, winning 21-19, 12-21, 18-21.

Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa, however, kept India in the gold hunt by rallying from a game down to put it across Australians Tian Tang He and Kate Wilson-Smith, 12-21, 21-13, 21-11, in 46 minutes of relentless badminton.

In the match between Kashyap and Ouseph, the scores were tied 18-18 when when the Englishman’s shot fell on the side court, but despite protests from the Indian the umpire refused to overrule the linesman’s judgement, calling the shuttle in.

Seconds later, the replays on the two giant screens showed that the shuttle was clearly out and the packed hall booed the umpire.

Having nosed ahead, lanky Rajiv took little time in closing out the match. A stunned Kashyap stood in disbelief and a stony silence pervaded the hall, broken by the joyous screams of English team.

It took a while for Kashyap to recover from the shocking loss before he walked up to shake hands with Rajiv. He then acknowledged the applause of a capacity crowd, which gave him a standing ovation for playing his heart out right through the tournament.

“Yes, it led to my loss. The shuttle was clearly out,” a disappointed Kashyap said, referring to the faulty line call.

“The umpire could have overruled the line judge, but he chose not to.”

Kashyap would now take on compatriot Chetan Anand in the bronze medal match. Chetan lost 11-21, 12-21 to World No.1 Lee Chong Wei in 24 minutes.

Kashyap, who upset fourth-seeded Malaysian Muhammad Hafiz Hashim Monday, began cautiously against Rajiv, whom he had beaten in the semifinals of the mixed team event.

Rajiv opened up a 6-3 lead, before Kashyap shifted gears to go into the attacking mode to unsettle the veteran Englishman. Kashyap took seven points in a row to move 12-6 ahead.

Rajiv made a brief comeback as Kashyap, world ranked 32, for the first time showed nerves and lost three game points before going a game up.

Rajiv raced to a 7-0 lead as the Indian committed a series of errors. It was difficult for Kashyap to stage a comeback and the match eventually went to the decider.

Kashyap opened a 4-0 lead in the tense third game, but Rajiv fought back. Kashyap led 10-6 and then 15-12, but Rajiv crawled back to draw level at 16-16 in the neck and neck battle, before the match reached a dramatic finish.

“He was trying to slow the game and he was successful to some extent. I made some errors, but I thought we were equal in the decider. It could have gone either way,” Kashyap said.

In the mixed doubles, Englad’s Nathan Robertson and Jenny Wallwork carved out a fighting 19-21, 16-21, 23-21 victory over Malaysian Liu Ying Goh and Peng Soon Chan.

The other mixed doubles semifinals was identical as Malaysian Koo Kien Keat and Chien Ee Hui fought back from a game down to beat Singapore’s Chayut Triyachart and and Yao Lei 19-21, 21-16, 21-18.

The women’s singles match too went down to the wire with second seeded Malaysian Mew Choo Wong getting past England’s Liz Cann 21-12, 18-21, 21-17 in an hour-long duel.