World Badminton Championships semifinal today
Teenaged shuttler PV Sindhu’s father was a bundle of nerves, walking around his apartment building in Hyderabad on Friday not wanting to see his daughter play the most crucial match of her young career. In Guangzhou, however, a confident Sindhu took just 55 minutes to pack off local favourite Shixian Wang to enter the semifinals and create history by emerging as the first ever Indian woman singles player to ensure a medal (Bronze) at the World Badminton Championships.
Seeded 10th in the championships, the ever-smiling Hyderabad girl trounced the World No 8 and 7th seed Wang in straight sets 21-18, 21-17. The victory was particularly sweet as it came on a day India’s sunshine girl Saina Nehwal went down in a straight game against World No 16 and lone men singles hope P Kashyap flirted with game point once before crashing out of his quarter final match.
Sindhu now faces Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon in her semifinal match on Saturday which will be beamed live on Sony Six. She has met this opponent only once earlier at the Indian Open this year wherein the Thai girl beat Sindhu comfortably with a 21-12, 21-6 score line. Sindhu’s parents, meanwhile, dedicated her assured medal to coach Pulela Gopichand.