BADMINTON BOOM: Pranaav/Sikki pair brings back focus on mixed doubles; aim for Top 10 ranking

WHILE INDIAN BADMINTON PLAYERS are making waves in singles, both men and women, the doubles scene has not been very encouraging, and definitely not so in mixed doubles. Therefore, the emergence of the Pranaav Jerry Chopra/Sikki Reddy pair is very heartening and provides hopes for the country to excel in this category.

In doubles, Jwala Gutta’s pairing with Ashwini Ponnappa was talked about, but her mixed doubles pairing with V Diju also got much recognition, beginning with their Grand Prix Gold win at the Chinese Taipei Open. Their biggest achievement was reaching the quarter-finals of the World Badminton Championships in 2009. They also represented India at the 2012 London Olympics, but were ousted after the group stages. They even achieved a highest career ranking of No. 6.

The 24-year-old Pranaav and 23-year-old Sikki came together as a pair in December last year and within a year of playing together have ensured that they are in the Top 20, with a current No.16 ranking.

Pranaav was the men’s doubles 2013 national champion along with Akshay Dewalkar. His best performance came when he almost won the 2016 India GPG but had to end up as a runner-up, though he had won the Bangladesh International title.
 
Sikki, a women's doubles player partnering Pradnya Gadre, won the India international Challenge twice, in Bahrain & Bangladesh, as well as the Polish Open and Lagos International. She has also paired with Tarun Kona in mixed doubles, clinching the Uganda & Romanian International.
 
Pranaav/Sikki went on to win their first GP title in Brazil in early September

and bettered it with the Russian GP title beating favourites Vladimar Ivanov/Sorokina. Their consistency during the year is what helped them climb up the rankings ladder.

In the most recent tournament they competed in, they reached the semi-finals of the Welsh International. After they won the Brazil GP, Pranaav/Sikki had stated their goal is to win the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

The Top 10 is also one of their immediate aims.

"Our aim now is to play in bigger events and get our ranking higher to eventually break into the top 10."

While talking to PTI, both were in praise of the specially appointed doubles coach Tim Kim Her.

"When Tan became the India coach is when we got to know what actual mixed doubles is, it is totally different from before. He only made this partnership and he taught us how to play professional mixed double. So we are in safe hands and we both just started 9 months back and we are already in top 50 in just 7 tournaments.”

Both these shuttlers also play in the doubles category – Pranaav plays alongside Dewalkar, while Sikki recently got a new partner in Ashwini Ponnappa.

Now it is difficult to concentrate on two categories, as it takes a toll on the player.

And as a result, Pranaav has decided to quit playing doubles and fully concentrate on mixed doubles. He has confirmed the same with The Fan Garage.

"It is not easy playing both the events at the highest level but my reason was also my injuries for which our coaches decided for me to focus on mixed doubles only and so I won't be playing men's doubles from now in any events."

But Sikki had a different perspective,

"It's not that difficult to manage in Grand Prix, Grand Prix Gold and Superseries as you will be playing only one match a day in an event. In mixed doubles – the coverage for the male player is a lot more than for the women, whose job is to give him an opening and play safe at the net... like catching the third stroke after service is very important and you need to have a good solid defence."

"Women’s doubles is totally different from the mixed doubles but I have an advantage because Ashwini covers the back court very well and she has very powerful smash, so again here my job is to give her openings and cover the drives and net. What you should have is lots of patience and high level of fitness to play the long rallies; you can see how well the Japanese do this by just keep the shuttle in the court."

She also stated that there is no trouble with Pranaav.

"Pranaav and I are doing really very well so I'm not worried about it. Now we just have to think and work on how to beat the top players in the world and how to play matches consistently without committing silly mistakes – that's the most important job."

She also said that her and Ashwini's performance is getting better by every tournament.

"Me and Ashwini are getting better and better with each tournament. We hardly practised together. I am hoping the next year we will get some good practise and matches which will make us learn and improve our game to go forward."

If the pair remains focused and concentrates on their goals with determination, it is likely that India will again shine in this category and bring in more titles and medals for the country.

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