Sindhu smashes into semis
New Delhi, Sept. 15: Olympic silver medallist P.V. Sindhu progressed to the semifinals of the women’s singles but it was curtains for Sameer Verma in the men’s event at the $600,000 Korea Open Super Series, in Seoul on Friday.
Sindhu, who won silver at the world championship last month, recovered from a mid-game slump to stave off the challenge from world no. 19 Minatsu Mitani of Japan 21-19, 16-21, 21-10 in a match that lasted 63 minutes.
The fifth seeded Indian, who had a 1-1 head-to-head record against the Japanese, will next face either third seed Sung Ji Hyun or China’s He Bingjiao, seeded sixth at the SK Handball Stadium.
A little more than five months ago, Sameer had defeated Son Wan in the opening round at the India Super Series in March but since then, the Korean has climbed to the top of the world rankings.
On the day, Sameer once again tried to get across the Korean but the top seed dished out a gritty performance to beat the Indian 2022, 21-10, 21-13 in a 69minute duel.
In the women’s singles, Sindhu eked out a 6-2 lead early on in the opening game but Mitani managed to claw back and turn the tables, reaching 11-9 at the break. After a close battle till 16-16, Sindhu jumped to 19-16.
Mitani then erased the deficit but Sindhu ensured she had bragging rights after the first game as she sealed it quickly.
In the second game, Mitani opened up a 8-4 lead but Sindhu caught up soon and led 12-9. But the Japanese once again clawed back at 13-13 and then moved away from the Indian to roar back into the contest.
In the decider, Sindhu showed her class as she gave Mitani no chance to make recovery with a 9-2 lead.
She was 11-6 at the break, which she extended to 19-9 after the interval, before slamming the door on the Japanese. — PTI