BWF World Championships: MR Arjun-Dhruv Kapila Were the Best Indian Pair in Tokyo, Feels Coach Mathias Boe

Without any doubt, Boe Mathias, our imported doubles coach from Denmark is worthy of being honoured.

This soft-spoken and decent person made his mark as a doubles specialist when he was playing competitive badminton by winning the silver medal in the 2012 summer games in London.

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A dogged player who played with a lot of control, especially near the net, Boe reached the world no.1 ranking in November 2011.

And he has brought the same zeal and determination and principles of hard work to Indian Badminton. So while the rest of the country was Devouring news about men’s and ladies’ singles exploits in the badminton world, Boe was going about his task with earnestness genuinely believing that India has huge talent in doubles as well and that in Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty we have a world-class pair.

Having won two of the three majors of the year, Thomas cup and CWG they had the confidence and grit to go for gold in the world championship. The fact that they lost at the penultimate stage is another matter but Saisatwik and Chirag Shetty made history for India as they are the first medal winners in men’s doubles in a world championship.

The best match they played was when they defeated the second seeds from Japan, Holi and Kobayashi. But we will come back to the matches later. Let us just bask in the happiness that the men’s doubles event in the world has now a new power coming in and India has come to be acknowledged as a powerful country in this event also apart from the two singles. The badminton world can ignore us at its own peril.

It was not just Saisatwik and Chirag who brought glory to India at Tokyo. We defeated the second seeds, but our second pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila, playing for a long time under the shadows of Saisatwik and Chirag finally emerged to create their own niche in the event.

This pair reached the quarterfinals in sensational style in the first round itself as they defeated the very experienced and dangerous pair of Thailand, Supak Jomkoh and Kittunppong Kedren 21-17/17-21/22-20. It was a marathon match that lasted for 71 minutes.

In the second round, they played with nerves of Steel against the 8th seeded and top Danish pair of Kim Astruup and Anders Skaarup 21-17/21-16. This was a devastating show of domination by the Indians.

In the pre-quarterfinals the Indians accounted for the top pair from Singapore Hee Yong and Loh Kean, 18-21/21-18/21-16 to reach the quarterfinals.

But here the exhausted Indian pair could not play their best and succumbed to an easy score line of 8-21/14-21 to the third seeds from Indonesia Mohd Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia three times former world champions.

Incidentally, Ahsan and Setiawan reached the finals where they lost to Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, the very pair from Malaysia who defeated Saisatwik and Chirag in their semifinals. This was a remarkable run for the Indians and they have shown that they can rub shoulders with the very best of them.

Mathias has almost singlehandedly catapulted badminton doubles to the limelight bringing it out of obscure back pages to front-page headlines. Indeed this was the first time that the media limelight has been on the performance of our doubles specialists.

The doubles players are no longer poor distant cousins. They will demand their own place on the dining table. Very happy with both the pairs, Mathias discussed all this and more in a chat from Tokyo. Let the coach tell the story in his own words.

“I am indeed very happy to be a part of this historic event. This is the first medal for India in the world championships men’s doubles event," Boe started.

“In 2011 Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa got a bronze in women’s doubles. But I am really really disappointed at losing. I hate losing. I thought we had a good chance today and a really good chance in the finals."

“But, at the same time, I am happy for both these pairs. They played really well. Saisatwik and Chirag had a good victory yesterday. We however need some more experience to play under tight situations. Learn how to be calmer."

The Dane had high praise for the pair of Arjun and Kapila. “We will learn from this and bounce back stronger for sure. As far as Arjun and Dhruv are concerned I think they were the best Indian pair in Tokyo, even though Saisatwik and Chirag won the medal," he said.

“They defeated three pairs who were ranked higher than themselves. Especially the match against the 8 seeded pair from Denmark who were serious contenders for the title. I am really really proud of these two. They were wonderful."

“These two and a couple of other pairs including ladies’ pairs will be playing the japan open next week so we will move on to Osaka. Then we have the Danish and the French open and we will take some rest after these events."

“My contract with the BAI expires on Nov 1. I will meet with chief coach Gopichand and BAI general secretary Sanjay Mishra after this championship."

“I hope we can work something out as so that I can continue with the Indian doubles, the work I started training and coordinating with them. The process with the BAI will start now."

“And I hope we can come up with a solution. I have liked my work here. And I am happy with the results so far. And look forward to giving better results in future," said the 42-year-old.

Boe likes India and is in fact dating famous film actor Tapsee Pannu for a few years now. And surely the BAI and the SAI, will not allow this gem to leave our shores.

If the results till now are any indication we will be seeing India emerge as a powerhouse In the doubles events much like China, Indonesia and Denmark.

Mathias Boe, you have done a great job. We owe you.

The rest of the results of the event were as expected. H.S Prannoy displayed great form. He defeated Lakshya Sen and had a much-awaited and sweet victory over Kento Momota of japan in 2 straight two games after losing to the Japanese in all their previous six encounters. He then lost in the quarterfinals to top Chinese shuttler Zhao Pung in a tough three-setter.

For the rest of the 26-strong squad, the Tokyo world championship was a good experience.

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