Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal has assured herself at least a maiden bronze medal at the World Badminton Championships by storming into the semifinals of the prestigious annual event at the Istora Senayan indoor stadium here on Friday. She came short in her previous five attempts, only reaching the last-eight stage, each time.
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“This time too I had to play Wang Yihan, it was nearly like a final”.
Chen, the defending champion, next meets Japan’s Kento Momota, who beat Hong Kong’s Nan Wei 21-6, 21-14 to ensure a first men’s singles medal for his country at the World Championships. She will now take on local hope Lindaweni Fanetri in the quest to become the first Indian to reach the summit clash of the championship.
“I always had hard draws and would run into a Chinese in the quarter-final – there was a mental block”.
Wang led for much of the third game having fought back to level the match but Nehwal eventually took her chance to claim victory. “So you never know”, said Saina. “But somehow, Saina lost her way and Yihan snatched the initiative with good defence and courageous shots”.
With Yihan raising the tempo of the game – a tactic she has successfully implemented against Saina in the past – the world No. 2 did take time to settle down but managed to keep pace with the Chinese with her powerful down the line smashes.
The second semi-final will be an all-China affair after second seeds Xu Chen Massachusetts Jin held off a late challenge from The Netherlands’ Jacco Arends and Selena Piek to win 21-9 21-18.
Game 1: Saina Nehwal with unforced errors.
Yihan opened up a 4-1 lead at the beginning of the second game.
Talking about the match, Saina said, “It was a tough match”. But it was here that Saina came up with some breathtaking strokes to move ahead of Yihan with a three point burst and then went for the kill. It was a very good win for Saina. Yihan brought her first game point with a brilliant forehand smash.
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Earlier, two-time bronze medallist P V Sindhu failed to complete a hat-trick of podium finishes when she went down 21-17 19-21 21-16 against Korea’s Sung Ji Hyun and the women’s doubles combination of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa lost 25-23 21-14 to the Japanese combination of Naoko Fukuman and Kurumi Yonao in the quarters.
