World Badminton Championships 2017: Schedule for Indian players on Day 6

The BWF World Championships have reached their business end with Saturday all set to witness the semifinals of the five events on offer. All the remaining participants in the draw are assured of atleast a bronze medal and will be gunning for a chance to convert it into a gold on Sunday.

Two Indians are in the fray on the penultimate day of the competition in the form of PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal - the two undisputed queens of Indian badminton. They are both on opposite sides of the draw and if they can win their respective semifinals, it could set up a dream all-Indian final.

In the last eight, both shuttlers had contrasting wins as the senior of the two, Saina Nehwal, overcame a stiff challenge from local favourite Kirsty Gilmour, the 16th seed, to take the win in three games. She took the match 21-19, 18-21, 21-15 in 74 minutes to assure a medal for India and will look to add to her existing silver medal at the Championships, that came last year in Jakarta.

She will face Japanese star Nozomi Okuhara, the seventh seed, and will fancy her chances of reaching the final. The two have met seven times so far on the BWF circuit, with the Indian winning a whopping six of those encounters. Their last showdown was at the All-England Championships earlier this year and it was Nehwal who took home the win.

For Sindhu, another Chinese opponent stands in the way of a place for the gold-medal match and she too will be confident of her chances, especially after seeing the way she convincingly clinched her quarterfinal match. She was up against the mighty Sun Yu and won in a comfortable manner - 21-14 21-9.

She will be up against rising sensation Chen Yufei, the Chinese star who dismantled Akane Yamaguchi in their match in the last eight. She is the reigning Asia and World Junior champions and her face-off against Sindhu promises to be a memorable one.

The men's singles also has two fascinating encounters set up between four of the best shuttlers currently. The legendary Lin Dan, for whom it might be his last World Championships, goes up against Korean top seed Son Wan Ho, who defeated Srikanth Kidambi in the quarters. The other semi sees Viktor Axelsen take on Chen Long - another blockbuster encounter that could go right down to the wire.

Here is the full schedule of the Indian players in action on Day 6 (Kindly note that the timings are in IST and are approximate ones as they subject to change according to the duration of the matches in the order of play.)

Women's singles

Nozomi Okuhara [7] vs Saina Nehwal [12] - 5 PM IST

Chen Yufei [9] vs PV Sindhu [4] - 12.30 AM IST (Sunday)