Asting has come into Anmol Kharb’s smashes that doesn’t pretend to be anything except power. She roars and exhales aggression too. Once tipped to be the natural successor of Saina Nehwal, the 19-year-old may have taken two seasons too many to find her feet on the seniors circuit.
But she definitely looks the most ready to bolt out on the tracks and hit a strong stride.
The net stomp – she is one of the better ones amongst the upcoming crop – has some serious explosivity and scything angles, and her rally construction looks geared towards constantly finding ways to snap the exchange shut.
On Friday at the Hylo Open quarterfinals in Saarbrucken, the World No 53, defeated World Championships surprise quarterfinalist Unnati Hooda 21-17, 18-21, 21-16 in 68 minutes that announced her re-emergence with full-throated roars – that come naturally to her. They are both deeply determined and driven youngsters from Haryana, focussed on the goal of finding their niche in the seniors. Their temparaments have been honed by putting in the struggles on the circuit, building strength and consistency. Anmol, though, has a technically stronger base and natural fearlessness that she asserts unabashedly. Unnati felt the sting in the quarters.
Anmol operates on the belief that no point will come easy but also that given she needs to take initiative, she might as well go all out. So she charged forward like an angry swell against an unmoving barricade. For Unnati is a fighter too, though workmanlike – like the invisible labour of an ant. It’s how she took the second set – staying relentless in the rallies and chasing down every shuttle.
However on either side of that, Anmol stomped and swerved and breathed fire every time she stormed the net. That game is like Kidambi Srikanth’s – the smash is used to soften up the opponent, tire them and then she rams towards the net and goes for a decisive kill. It’s not her only weapon.
Anmol managed to pin Unnati to the backcourt and move her around scurrying for the downward hit strokes and deep straight hits, which are her favourite to finish off a rally. She has the drops and half smashes which are deployed well as her stroke selection is elite. But it is at the net where she assumes a dominant stance like An Se-young, and likes to control exchanges. Unnati wasn’t left with too much time to create openings when bombarded with the barrage.
A 12-7 lead in the opener sufficed as she kept Unnati at bay. The net pick-ups were second only to her ability to keep the shuttle in play with rangy strokes as she took the opener. She will beat herself up no doubt for not finishing in the second while she led 11-8. But the teen from Faridabad wasn’t daunted by the string of points that kept Unnati ahead till 12-11 in the decider.
That’s when Anmol went on a 7-point-spree with a visible increase in intensity – a hallmark of big players and reached 19-12. Unnati still picked a bunch of points thereafter, and that’s when Anmol course corrected maturely. She had been buzzing aggressively, but with 2 match points frittered, she slowed down the pace of the rally – something she dictated throughout. Working the shuttle around, she teased out the error that gave her the win over the World No 21.
Earlier, the fearlessly free-hitting shuttler who came to prominence at 16, helped India win Asian team gold at 17, slumped in form at 18, had returned to where she belongs – taking down higher ranked opponents with her rangy strokes played from impossibly imbalanced positions. On Thursday, she defeated Danish World No 12 Line Christophersen in a stunning come from behind fightback.
At 18-20 down in the decider, other shoulders would’ve slumped. But not the Haryanvi who always had the court coverage and struck some of the cleanest strokes, but has now shot up a few inches to find even greater range as she picks shuttles early and gets waspish sting on her shots even when she connects with the frame. It helps her retrieve without losing the crunch on the shots.
Anmol’s game might lack in a 400+kph smash, but her court sense is top level. She hits freely, understands court geography, angles and has clearly built up stamina to last long rallies. She has overhead drops that came in handy especially in the decider. But a bulk of her deception happens at the net and on forehand lifts from net-level that she pops up with wristy elan.
She may not have Tanvi Sharma’s strokemaking abilities, but Anmol reads the game as well as Tanvi and has a stronger net than most of the new bunch for two back to back Top 21 scalps.