World Badminton Championship: PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth are a win away from medal
Glasgow: Olympic silver medallist P. V. Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth stood just one step away from grabbing a medal each at the World Badminton Champion-ship after entering the quarterfinals of the singles events here on Thursday.
Sindhu, who twice won a bronze medal at the 2013 and 2014 editions, survived a scare against Hong Kong’s Cheung Ngan Yi before prevailing 19-21, 23-21, 21-17 in a thrilling women’s singles match that lasted an hour and 27 minutes.
The 22-year-old Indian fought back from 13-16 down in the second game after losing the first to eventually come up trumps. She will face fifth seed Sun Yu of China next.
Srikanth, however, eased into the quarterfinals with yet another straight-game win over Denmark’s Anders Antonsen in men’s singles. On a 12-match winning streak, Srikanth knocked out World No.18 Antonsen 21-14, 21-18. The World No.10 Indian will clash with top seed and World No.1 Korean Son Wan Ho in the quarterfinals.
India’s top mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N. Sikki Reddy, seeded 15th, played their heart out before going down 22-20, 18-21, 18-21 to Indonesian World Number 6 duo of Debby Susanto and Praveen Jordan.
Despite coming into the women’s singles match with a 3-0 head-to-head record, Sindhu found the going tough against her World No. 17 opponent, who held a slender 11-9 lead at the break.
After the interval, Sindhu clawed back with two points but the duel between the two became more fierce as they moved neck and neck till 19-19 when the Hong Kong girl moved ahead to earn the bragging rights.
Jolted by the first game reversal, Sindhu opened up a 4-0 lead but Cheung drew parity at 9-9 before grabbing an 11-10 advantage at the interval. The Hong Kong girl then moved to a 16-13 lead.
Sindhu, however, turned the tables at 17-16 and had three game point at 20-17. Cheung accumulated three points and was tied 21-21 when the Indian marched ahead to bounce back into the contest.
In the decider, Sindhu moved to a 11-6 lead early on but Cheung once again caught up with the Indian at 12-12. Sindhu then distanced herself, reaching 15-12 before comfortably grabbing five match points at 20-15. Cheung saved two match points before the Indian shut the door on her rival.
However, it was curtains for men’s singles player Sameer Verma, who suffered a 20-22, 9-21 loss to Rajiv Ouseph. National champion Rituparna Das too was hardly a match for local favourite Kirsty Gilmour, losing 16-21, 13-21.
