BADMINTON

Aviva Open Singapore 2007
Tuesday, 1 May 2007 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium

Story by Coach Dick Yip. Pictures by Leslie Tan, official photographer of the Aviva Open Singapore 2007. © Red Sports/soulbreath pictures

Singapore’s Febriyan Irvannady fell at the first qualifying round this afternoon at the Aviva Open Singapore when he lost 15-21, 10-21 to Indonesia’s Vountus Indra Mawan.

Febriyan Irvannady in action for Singapore. Photo by Leslie Tan/Red Sports

Red Sports picked up the action midway through the first set.

At 7-10, Irvan tried to narrow the gap by using a leaping smash which went into the net. Mawan led 7-11. Then three net errors by Mawan allowed Irvan to catch up to 10-11. In the next rally, Mawan executed a perfect disguised drop which caught Irvan flat-footed to lead 10-13. Another drop by Mawan and Irwan did no better by lifting it half court allowing Mawan an easy kill to lead 10-14. A series of high lobs and Irwan allowed the last one to fall in at the base line. Mawan led 15-10. A terrific cross-court net flick by Mawan made it 16-10.

Vountus Indra Mawan of Malaysia in action. Photo by Leslie Tan/Red Sports

Mawan was better at controlling the play both in attack and in defence. Three unforced errors by Irvan allowed his rival to creep ahead 19-10. Irvan then got a point from Mawan’s missed backhand smash to bring the score to 11-19. He followed up on that with a good backhand smash to make it 12-19. Mawan used another disguised drop to get to game point at 20-12. In a hurry to finish off the game, Mawan committed three errors, allowing Irvan to creep closer at 20-15. He then lifted the shuttle high to 3/4 court to tempt Irvan to smash. Irvan did and fell into the trap of smashing into the net when he was out of position. 21-15 to Mawan.

2nd Set: The difference between the two players was obvious. In attack, Irvan’s smashes lacked the sting that Mawan had. In defence, Mawan has the better answer to turn rallies into counter-attacks, often winning points outright. Mawan led 4-1 in the early stage. He was calm and confident while his opponent sneaked glances at his coach perhaps for some cues on forestalling the losing streak. Irwan gave away four more points easily as he lost his focus and concentration to slide to 1-8. Then a surprised cross-court smash earned him a point 2-8. Mawan then made an error at the net and it was 8-3. He recovered the momentum with a huge smash to go 9-3. An Irwan lob that was long made it 3-10. Irwan then scored the next point with a delayed flat push to the baseline to make it 4-10. He then tried a sharp drop that went out. 4-11. Another net error by Irvan made it 4-12.

Mawan then executed a nice disguised net shot to lead 13-4. That became 14-4 after another unforced net error by Irwan. Two errors by Mawan then made it 14-6. A sideline smash by Mawan soon made it 15-6. Irwan won the next point at the net. 7-15. A beautiful drop and another exquisite net play made it 17-7 for Mawan. It increased to 18-7 with another successful net return. Mawan then smashed into the net for 8-18. Irwan tried a backhand smash that did not come off. 19-8. A Mawan net error then made it 9-19. Closing in for the kill, Mawan jumped and delayed his chop/smash which tricked his opponent to give him 20-9, matchpoint. Irwan forced his rival into a net error to go 10-20. Then Mawan repeated his trap of the 1st set by luring Irwan to hit the shuttle long for a match winning score of 21-10.