Saina Nehwal, P V Sindhu and P Kashyap underlined
India’s prowess as badminton’s emerging superpower with convincing victories to
reach the quarterfinals of the BWF World Badminton Championship in Guangzhou,
China, on Thursday.
This is the first time India will have three representatives
in the last eight stage of the prestigious world championship and are just one
victory away from ensuring a medal.
While Saina’s entry into the quarterfinals was expected,
Asian Junior champion P V Sindhu and London Olympics quarterfinalist P Kashyap punched
way above their weight to upset higher ranked players in the pre-quarterfinals.
Sindhu, who is playing in her maiden world championship,
upset defending champion and second seed Yihan Wang of China 21-18, 23-21 in
just under an hour after Kashyap had packed off sixth seed Yun Hu of Hong Kong
21-13, 21-16 on the same court.
If world number 3 Saina began India’s march with a 18-21,
21-16, 21-14 victory over Thailand’s Porntip Buranaprasertsuk, it was Sindhu
who stole the limelight a few hours later.
The 18-year-old went into the third round encounter against
the defending champion and London Olympics bronze medallist Yihan with very
little to lose and her game plan to attack from the start worked wonders.
The Malaysian GP gold champion showed good anticipation and
backed it with excellent moments to take the first game against the Chinese and
at one stage looked like she could run away with the match when she opened up a
13-7 lead in the second.
But Yihan was never going to give up without a fight. She
started engaging Sindhu in long rallies and managed to save three match points
and was just a point away from taking the match into the decider.
However, Sindhu showed great composure to not allow the
three wasted opportunities to affect her thinking as she saved a game point and
then claimed the next two after marathon rallies to book a quarterfinal clash
against another Chinese, seventh seed Shixian Wang.
“I cannot explain how I am feeling right now. I just went
into the match with the determination to give my 100 per cent and I am really
happy to have pulled off this victory,” said Sindhu after the match.
Chief national coach Pullela Gopi Chand was also elated with
the results. “Sindhu was fantastic, specially the way she fought towards the
end in the second game when Yihan came back strongly and saved three match
points,” he said.
“I am really happy. Three players reaching the quarterfinals
is history being created for Indian badminton. Now we need to take this
performance to the next level tomorrow,” he added.
A few minutes before Sindhu took the court, Kashyap scripted
his own fairy tale by beating Hu in just 37 minutes.
Kashyap executed the game plan of dominating her opponent to
perfection and would now take on third seed Pengyu Du of China for a semifinal
berth.
“I have been in the quarters at Olympics and the All
England, so I am happy I have reached this stage again,” said Kashyap.
Speaking about the strategy for his quarterfinal match, he
said, “Strategy depends on the kind of shuttle throw. The speed is changing
from day to day so it is a lot to do with what happens at the point.”
Saina also suffered from a similar problem on Wednesday as
she had to battle the drift on the court along with a tough opponent in the
pre-quarterfinals.
The London Olympic bronze medallist struggled with the
flight of the shuttle and lost the first game before change of ends allowed her
to regroup and take control of the match.
Saina, who had never advanced beyond the quarterfinal stage
of the world championship in the last three editions, will now take on 13th
seed Yeon Ju Bae of Korea, who defeated Japan’s Sayaka Takahashi 21-19, 21-17.
“Bae is a good rally player. So it will be a tough match
tomorrow,” she said,
Results:
Women’s singles: 3-Saina Nehwal bt 15-Porntip
Buranaprasertsuk (Thailand) 18-21, 21-16, 21-14, 10-P V Sindhu bt 2-Yihan Wang
(China) 21-18, 23-21
Men’s singles: 13-P Kashyap bt 6-Yun Hu (Hong Kong) 21-13,
21-16
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