India's shuttler P.V Sindhu will face reigning All England champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan for a place in the final of the women's singles event at the Rio Olympics here on Thursday.
Double World Championship bronze medallist Sindhu has been in very good form, dismissing two higher-ranked opponents — Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu Ying and World No 2 Wang Yihan of China in the pre-quarter-final and the quarter-final respectively.
World No10 Sindhu stunned last edition's runner-up Yihan in straight games. Faced with a much higher rated opponent, the 21-year-old from Hyderabad scripted a 22-20, 21-19 victory in 54 minutes over the former World No1 at the Riocentro Pavilion 4 here on Tuesday.
Now, Sindhu faces a tricky opponent in Okuhara, who has been living a dream in a fast-rising career.
The Japanese won her first BWF Superseries title at the 2015 home Open. In 2016, the 21-year-old won the prestigious All England Open, becoming the first Japanese woman player to achieve this feat in the last 39 years.
On the other hand, the 21-year-old Indian became the first ever Indian women's singles player to win two bronze medals at the World Championships.
She won the 2013 World Championship bronze by defeating Bae Yeon of Korea and Minatsu Mitani of Japan in 2014.
It will be the fifth meeting between them with the Japanese dominating thrice and having the upper hand at the last meeting at Badminton Asia Team Championships 2016 at Hyderabad.
Sindhu had just edged over Okuhara in Badminton Asia Youth Under 19 Championships 2012 in the third and deciding game.
After two bronze medals in the World Championships, Sindhu has improved the standard of her game, and it remains to be seen how well she tackles the deceptive game and rock solid defence of World No6 Okuhara.
Earlier, Sindhu became the second Indian badminton player to reach an Olympic semifinal after Saina Nehwal achieved the feat four years ago.
In the opening game which lasted 29 minutes, Wang raced to a 3-0 lead after dictating the pace of the rallies before Sindhu grabbed a couple of points.
The Indian made it 5-5 after Wang hit the net.
Sindhu showed some good judgement and accumulated points riding on her opponents unforced errors but Wang still entered the break with a 11-8 lead.
Sindhu, who had beaten Wang in the Denmark Open last year, grabbed three straight points to make it 11-12 but left a shuttle at the baseline next. The Indian levelled par at 13-13 when Wang hit it way wide off the court.
Sindhu tried to make Wang cover the longest distance by pushing her to the back corner and then drawing her forward to the net, earning her a few points. The Indian used her reach to play some reverse angled strokes to catch Wang off guard and grabbed the lead when Wang found the net.
At 18-18, Sindhu won a video referral to get two crucial game point advantage after once again Wang's return buried at the net.
After grabbing the game, in the second game at 18-13, Sindhu moved into a five-point cushion when Wang pushed one wide.
The Chinese showed great fighting spirit to reel off the next six points and grabbed the lead with a mid court smash.
A good return of serve made it 19-19 before the Indian secured the match point with a powerful smash.
Wang hit the net on the decisive point as Sindhu fell to the ground in jubilation.