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It was a good day for Indian shuttler’s as PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Sai Praneeth and the mixed doubles pair of Ponappa and Rankireddy progressed into the quarter finals of BWF World Championships played at Nanjing on Thursday. The biggest disappointment was Kidambi Srikanth losing to Malaysia’s Darren Liew.
In the women’s singles, Saina Nehwal took on Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand. It was a dominating performance by the Indian who outplayed her opponent. In the first game, both players took alternate points till 5-5. Then Intanon took 3 points in succession to be 8-5 up before Saina equalled the score 8-8. At the interval, Saina Nehwal led 11-8. After the interval, Intanon tried her best but it was the Indian player who showed composure to win first set 21-16.
The second set saw Saina Nehwal playing aggressive badminton taking a 6-3 lead and continued to dominate the Thailand player. Like the first game, Saina led 11-8 at the interval. After the interval, Intanon fought back brilliantly to reduce the gap and then equalled the score at 18-18. Saina held her nerves before winning the second set 21-19 to move into the quarter finals. She will meet Carolina Marin in the quarter finals.
PV Sindhu took on Korean Sung Ji Hyun. It was a dominating performance by the Olympic silver medallist who played with aggression and dominated the Korean right from start. At the interval, Sindhu had an 11-6 lead. After the interval, Sindhu continued her domination and won first set 21-10 easily.
In the second set, Sung Ji Hyun had a fantastic start with a 5-1 lead and continued to dominate the Indian. Sindhu took 5 points in succession to reduce the gap to 8-10. At the interval, Korean had an 11-9 lead. After the interval, Sindhu continued her fighting approach and equalled the score at 13-13, continued to play aggressive badminton winning the game 21-18 to move into quarter finals.
Sindhu will face Okuhara in the quarter finals. It will be a repeat of last year’s finals.
In the men’s singles, Sai Praneeth had an easy outing against Denmark Hans Solberg Vittinghus. It was a dominating performance by Indian who outplayed his opponent easily winning it in two straight games 21-13, 21-11 to move into quarter finals. He will face Japan Kento Momota in the quarter finals.
The biggest disappointment was India’s best male shuttler, Kidambi Srikanth losing to Malaysia opponent Darren Liew in two straight sets 18-21, 18-21. K Srikanth got chances of winning the match but could convert those chances into winning positions.
Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponappa stun World number 7
In the mixed doubles category, Ranikreddy and Ashwini Ponappa stunned the World number 7 Goh Soon Huat and Shevon Jemie in three gruelling sets. The first game was a close fought one with both pairs fighting for each point. The Malaysian pair held their nerves to win the first set 22-20. Ashwini Ponappa and Rankireddy played with aggression winning the second set 21-14. In the third set, the Indian pair dominated winning it 21-6 easily to move into quarter finals. They will face World number 1 pair of Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong.
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