Historic Asian Games medal assured for Saina and India
Indian ace shutler Saina Nehwal assured India a medal with a 21-18, 21-16 win in the women's singles quarterfinal against Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon. Saina writes her name in history as it will be the first Asiad badminton medal for India by a woman. She will take on World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei in the semifinals on Monday.
Saina Nehwal fought back from 3-11 down to win the first game of her women's singles badminton quarterfinal against world number 4 Ratchanok Intanon 21-18. She completely dominated the game once she took a lead in the first set. Intanon, known for her swift movement and cleverness, troubled Saina in the second game but fell short when it mattered the most.
Saina secured her semifinal berth and India's first women's badminton medal by beating Intanon 21-16 in the second game.
PV Sindhu will also play her quarterfinal match today in Jakarta against Thailand’s Nitchaon Jindapol. If we get to see Saina vs Sindhu in the Asian Games 2018 finals, it won't surprise the badminton fraternity given the domination they have enjoyed over women's badminton in singles.
In the other games of the day, India reached the final of Women Compound Team event with a 225-222 victory over Chinese Taipei.
In a historic first, India also won two equestrian silver medals in Eventing Individual (Fouaad Mirza) and Eventing Team.
Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore took to Twitter to congratulate Equestrian success. He wrote, "Our excellent Equestrian team has won us a SILVER in the Equestrian Eventing Team at the #AsianGames2018 ! Brilliant performance by team members Mirza, Rakesh, Ashish and Jitender. Well done! #KheloIndia #IndiaAtAsianGames @asiangames2018 ."
In athletics, Jauna qualified for the gold-medal race as the fastest loser from Heat 1. She clocked 59.20 to bag the eighth and last spot.