The lone remaining warrior of the Indian contingent at the ongoing 2016 Badminton Asia Championships in Wuhan, Saina Nehwal sealed her semi-final spot with a convincing 21-16 21-19 victory over her higher-ranked Chinese counterpart, Wang Shixian, today.
In the other quarter-final tie, China’s Wang Yihan defeated the Japanese Nozomi Okuhara 8-21 21-13 21-19 to set up a fascinating semi-final clash with her long-time rival from India.
Having reached the last four of the tournament for the 4th consecutive time, the 26-year-old Indian appears to be in pretty decent nick. Although she had intermittent lapses during the course of today’s match, a notable instance being her squandering of a 6-2 advantage to trail 9-11 halfway into the second game, she held good composure to take it to 19 each and then finish it off 21-19 in her favour.
On the other hand, Yihan overturned a first game loss in commanding fashion as she seized the following two with ease. Currently ranked 6th in the world, she holds a slight edge over Saina at the 8th position.
Head-to-head record, too, sees the Chinese shuttler ahead of Saina. In their previous 14 encounters, she has dominated with 10 wins while the Indian could only manage the remaining four.
That brings us to Saturday’s exciting contest between the two, which, being another semi-final, could swing either way. Saina Nehwal, however, will be hoping to maintain her impressive unbeaten streak so as to make the coveted final berth her own.
Match: Saina Nehwal vs Wang Yihan
Date: 30th April, 2016
Time: 01:30 PM IST
TV Channel: Ten 1, Ten HD
Head-to-Head: 4-10
