English
Top notch Indian shuttlers were in action on day five of the World Badminton Championships 2017. While PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal were representing India in women’s singles matches, Kidambi Srikanth was the lone contender in men’s singles.
Day five turned out to be a good one as far as India is concerned as Sindhu and Saina won their respective matches to advance to semis. However, fans were disappointed to see the exit of the 24-year-old Srikanth.
Srikanth, who was rated as one of the favourites to win the title, crashed out after going down against South Korean world No. 1 Son Wan Ho 14-21, 18-21. The Indian tried hard to make a comeback in the second game but apparently failed to do.
In Women’s singles, Saina, the 12th seed, fought off home favourite and 16th seed Kirsty Gilmour 21-19, 18-21, 21-15 in an hour and 14 minutes to assure India of at least a bronze medal. Saina, who was playing her seventh consecutive quarter-finals at the World Championships, reached the semi-finals for the second time in the prestigious tournament.
Saina, the 2015 World Championships runner-up, will face Japanese seventh seed Nozomi Okuhara on Saturday for a place in the final.
Continuing her good run, P.V. Sindhu won her quarterfinals match against fifth seed Sun Yu of China 21-14, 21-9. She will now take on Chen Yufei of China, who continued her winning run by beating eighth seed Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand 14-21, 21-16, 21-12.
With Sindhu and Saina progressing India is assured of at least two bronze medals. If these two win their respective semis, there will be an all-India final as well.
(Inputs IANS)
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