Eighteen-year-old P V Sindhu created history on Friday when she defeated seventh seed Shixian Wang of China to become the first Indian women’s singles player to assure a medal in the BWF World Championship in Guangzhou.
The performance is all the more commendable since this was Sindhu’s first ever world championship appearance.
The Asian junior champion, who had upset second seed and defending champion Yihan Wang in the earlier round, completed the 21-18, 21-17 in just 55 minutes to book a semifinal berth and thereby a medal. She will now take on Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon, who got the better of Spain’s Carolina Marin 21-18, 20-22, 21-15.
The legendary Prakash Padukone had bagged India’s first ever world championship bronze in 1983 at Copenhagen and Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa became the first women’s doubles pairing to reach the semifinals in 2011.
Badminton Association of India President Akhilesh Das Gupta congratulated Sindhu on her historic performance and hoped that she would go on to achieve bigger glory on Saturday. “I congratulate Sindhu on reaching the semifinals and ensuring a medal. But she has the capability to go all the way in the tournament and I wish her all the luck in her endeavour.”
Sindhu’s quarterfinal triumph brought cheers to the Indian camp after third seed Saina Nehwal and P Kashyap had gone down fighting in the morning session.
Playing against an experienced opponent, Sindhu stayed very patient in long rallies, which is Wang’s strength, and delivered her half-smashes at will whenever the opportunity presented itself.
“I am very happy that everything went according to the plan. It is great to win a medal in my very first world championship appearance, but I want to now concentrate on tomorrow’s match and not allow myself to relax,” said Sindhu.
Chief National coach Pullela Gopichand was full of praise for Sindhu and said the youngster showed great composure and maturity to handle the pressure. “She played exceptionally well and was in control of the match throughout.”
Earlier, national men’s singles champion P Kashyap suffered a heart break as he was just one point away from sealing a semifinal berth but could not convert the lone match point and ended up on the losing end against third seed Pengyu Du of China 16-21, 22-20, 21-15.
The 2010 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist played to a plan and had Du on the mat for the majority of first game and staged a brilliant comeback in the second, before the Chinese rode on the crowd support to snatch victory from the Indian.
“It was disappointing not to be able to convert the match point. But I am happy that I gave my best and hopefully the result will be different the next time,” said Kashyap after the match.
On the adjacent court, Saina was off colour and went down 23-21, 21-9 against 13th seed Yeon Ju Bae of Korea. The London Olympics bronze medallist began on a confident note as she raced to a 17-11 lead in the first game but suffered an unexpected melt down to lose the game and eventually the match.
Men's singles: 13-P Kashyap lost to 3-Pengyu Du (China) 16-21, 22-20, 21-15
The performance is all the more commendable since this was Sindhu’s first ever world championship appearance.
The Asian junior champion, who had upset second seed and defending champion Yihan Wang in the earlier round, completed the 21-18, 21-17 in just 55 minutes to book a semifinal berth and thereby a medal. She will now take on Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon, who got the better of Spain’s Carolina Marin 21-18, 20-22, 21-15.
The legendary Prakash Padukone had bagged India’s first ever world championship bronze in 1983 at Copenhagen and Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa became the first women’s doubles pairing to reach the semifinals in 2011.
Badminton Association of India President Akhilesh Das Gupta congratulated Sindhu on her historic performance and hoped that she would go on to achieve bigger glory on Saturday. “I congratulate Sindhu on reaching the semifinals and ensuring a medal. But she has the capability to go all the way in the tournament and I wish her all the luck in her endeavour.”
Sindhu’s quarterfinal triumph brought cheers to the Indian camp after third seed Saina Nehwal and P Kashyap had gone down fighting in the morning session.
Playing against an experienced opponent, Sindhu stayed very patient in long rallies, which is Wang’s strength, and delivered her half-smashes at will whenever the opportunity presented itself.
“I am very happy that everything went according to the plan. It is great to win a medal in my very first world championship appearance, but I want to now concentrate on tomorrow’s match and not allow myself to relax,” said Sindhu.
Chief National coach Pullela Gopichand was full of praise for Sindhu and said the youngster showed great composure and maturity to handle the pressure. “She played exceptionally well and was in control of the match throughout.”
Earlier, national men’s singles champion P Kashyap suffered a heart break as he was just one point away from sealing a semifinal berth but could not convert the lone match point and ended up on the losing end against third seed Pengyu Du of China 16-21, 22-20, 21-15.
The 2010 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist played to a plan and had Du on the mat for the majority of first game and staged a brilliant comeback in the second, before the Chinese rode on the crowd support to snatch victory from the Indian.
“It was disappointing not to be able to convert the match point. But I am happy that I gave my best and hopefully the result will be different the next time,” said Kashyap after the match.
On the adjacent court, Saina was off colour and went down 23-21, 21-9 against 13th seed Yeon Ju Bae of Korea. The London Olympics bronze medallist began on a confident note as she raced to a 17-11 lead in the first game but suffered an unexpected melt down to lose the game and eventually the match.
Results (quarterfinals):
Women's singles: 10-P V Sindhu bt 7-Shixian Wang (China) 21-18, 21-17; 3-Saina Nehwal lost to Yeon Ju Bae (Korea) 23-21, 21-9Men's singles: 13-P Kashyap lost to 3-Pengyu Du (China) 16-21, 22-20, 21-15
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