MACAU OPEN 2014 SF – Danny’s Day

Singapore’s Danny Bawa Chrisnanta made his way into two finals of a major tournament for the first time in his career, at the 2014 Macau Open.

By Dwi Basuki Wahyu Setia Sudarmadi.  Photos: Badmintonphoto (archives)

Danny Bawa Chrisnanta (pictured) once said in a interview that his decision to represent Singapore instead of his country of origin was due to the tight competition on the Indonesian national team, which was packed with talented players.  This does not imply that he is weak or lacking in talent and indeed, this afternoon as he proceeded to final day in both men’s and mixed doubles, he proved that he is just as good as his friends who are training on the Indonesian team and possibly mentally stronger.

Coming from behind to take the second and deciding games, he and Chayut Triyachart managed their nerves and left Wahyu Nayaka Arya Pankaryanira / Ade Yusuf with nothing but disappointment.

Back on court 4 hours later, he and his mixed partner Vanessa Neo accepted the challenge from Korean scratch pair Kim Duck Young / Go Ah Ra.  The Koreans saved 3 match points, including one with a flick serve that successfully caught Neo off guard, but they couldn’t hide their nervousness as the winning point came on a desperation shot following a misjudgement of the shuttlecock.

Although Busanan Ongbamrungphan (pictured) won her first Grand Prix Gold title exactly a year earlier than Pusarla Venkata Sindhu, the Thai’s achievements are nowhere near as high as Sindhu.  Sindhu now holds bronze medals from two consecutive World Championships while highest Busanan’s best result in the last two years is only the 2013 Dutch Open title.  In the battle between the two teenagers in Saturday’s semi-final, Busanan could only stay close until the interval in each game, and finally Sindhu confirmed that she was the best player on the day.

Fans had been looking for great things from Malaysia’s Vivian Hoo / Woon Khe Wei.  This was just their second tournament together after their sensational Asian Games win over the mighty partnership of Wang Xiaoli / Yu Yang.  The Malaysians were not able to keep going to finals day as they ran afoul of Ou Dongni and Yu Xiaohan on Saturday.

India’s men’s singles squad got an injection of morale after Kidambi Srikanth’s superb Superseries Premier win.  But even before that H. S. Prannoy had struck the spark himself when he reached consecutive Grand Prix finals in Vietnam and Indonesia. Unfortunately, Hong Kong’s Wong Wing Ki played well close to home and successfully denied Prannoy’s attempt to reach his third final of the year.

Click here for complete semi-final results