World Badminton Championships 2018: PV Sindhu assured of her fourth medal as Saina Nehwal crashes out

PV Sindhu remained the last Indian standing at the World Badminton Championships 2018 as Saina Nehwal, B Sai Praneeth and the mixed doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy crashed out of this prestigious Grade 1 tournament in Nanjing, China on Friday. Sindhu avenged her 2017 final defeat to Nozomi Okuhara by notching up a 21-17, 21-19 win over the eighth seeded Japanese in 58 minutes.

With this win, the Indian assured herself of her fourth medal from this event to add to the silver she won last year and the two bronze medals that she got hold of in 2013 and 2014.

The Rio Olympic silver medallist will next meet the second seeded Akane Yamaguchi for a coveted spot in the gold medal match. Even though Sindhu leads their head-to-head record 6-4, it is the Japanese who emerged victorious in their last meeting at the All England Open in March.

In contrast, the 10th seeded Saina Nehwal was a pale shadow of the player, who had shown so much spirit in her win over former world champion Ratchanok Intanon in the third round. Having become the only women’s singles player to reach the quarter-finals of this tournament for eight consecutive times, Nehwal was completely outplayed by an aggressive and determined Carolina Marin 6-21, 11-21 in just 31 minutes.

The two-time world champion Marin now goes on to meet the sixth seeded He Bingjiao, who caused a big upset by knocking out the World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying in three games.

In men’s singles, B Sai Praneeth was no match for the in-form Kento Momota in the Indian’s first ever quarter-final at the World Championships. The reigning Asian champion combined defence with offence to carve out a 21-12, 21-12 win and set up a semi-final clash with the unseeded Daren Liew.

Rankireddy and Ponnappa put up a good fight in the first game against the top seeds and World No. 2 pair of Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong only to be outgunned by the Chinese in the second game. Siwei and Yaqiong prevailed over the Indians 21-17, 21-10 in 37 minutes.

Sindhu comes back from a second-game deficit

The Sindhu vs Okuhara match was the cynosure of all eyes on Friday after their blockbuster encounter last year which went on to become one of the best badminton matches ever played. Okuhara had the edge coming into this match, having beaten the Indian in their last meeting in Thailand just a few weeks back.

And she began the proceedings confidently as well, building a 5-2 lead only to be pegged back by the Indian, who cut down on her errors as the match progressed. Sindhu started incorporating a surprise element into her play by going for flat strokes that landed on the backline and quick flicks that made the shuttle drop into the deep corners.

As Okuhara’s anticipation skills started faltering, she got rattled, conceding an 11-10 lead to Sindhu.

Sindhu ensured that the Japanese doesn’t get to control the net much and kept her pinned to the backcourt by moving the shuttle from side to side. With the first game safely in the pocket, the Indian relaxed a bit in the initial stages of the second game as she kept peppering the court with errors.

That aided Okuhara to go up to 9-3 and she looked at ease by controlling the rallies. The Japanese lost her focus after the break that allowed Sindhu to level matters at 11-11 and the game continued to be evenly poised till 19-19.

With one backhand into the net on match point, she helped Sindhu book her place in the semi-finals.