National coach Pullela Gopichand expressed satisfaction after P V Sindhu’s superb show ensured India a bronze medal at the World Championship here on Friday.
“It is good to have a win after two losses,” Gopichand said after Sindhu notched up a 21-18, 21-17 win over world No 8 Shixian Wang in a 55-minute women’s singles quarterfinal match. “She (Sindhu) is a good player but she can improve further. She is a quick learner and I hope she will do well tomorrow,” Gopichand said. “It was a tough match. It went neck and neck and there wasn’t much to choose. There was not more than 2-3 points of difference. Sindhu was leading all the time. But it was just by a slender margin. The rallies were pretty long and Sindhu was able to attack when needed. So overall it was a good show,” analysed Gopichand. The former All England champion feels that Sindhu can certainly improve further.
Sindhu, who will next take on Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon, said: “I am very happy with my game as everything went well. I will work hard for tomorrow match.” Against Wang on Friday, Sindhu relied on her smashes, besides hitting as many as 19 clear winners. The 18-year-old Sindhu started to dominate from the word go. After initially being tied at 3-3, the Hyderabadi surged ahead to open a slight 6-3 lead. Determined not to lose the advantage, Sindhu kept on increasing the gap to make it 13-8. Wang, however, managed to bag four points on the trot to reduce the margin to 12-13. But Sindhu regained her composure pretty quickly to pocket three consecutive points to once again move ahead.
Wang gave Sindhu scare one more time by making it 18-19 before the Indian kept her nerves to eventually wrap it up 21-18. In the second game also, Sindhu straightaway took a 6-2 lead before four straight points from Wang served as a warning bell to the Indian. Tied at 6-6, Sindhu roared back with three consecutive points to move ahead yet again. And thereafter she made sure to maintain a lead of at least a point or two. Comfortably placed at 20-16, Sindhu wasted just one match point before she capped it off in style to seal the game 21-17. Sindhu is having a dream run at the tournament as she had stunned defending champion Yihan Wang of China in the pre-quarterfinals.