Saina in Asian championship semis, Sindhu out
Prannoy too enters Last Four; Curtains for Srikanth
Wuhan (China), April 27: Two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist Saina Nehwal and world No.10 H. S. Prannoy progressed to the semifinals of the women’s and men’s singles competition at the Asia Badminton Championship here on Friday.
Former world No.1 Saina showed her class as she dumped unseeded Korean Lee Jang Mi 21-15, 21-13 in a 43-minute clash. She will face world No.1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei next.
“I am pleased with my game. Right now my confidence is at a high and I hope to go beyond the semis,” said London Olympics bronze medallist Saina.
Prannoy, who had missed out of a medal at the Commonwealth Games, dug deep into his reservoir to eke out a hard-fought 1821, 23-21, 21-12 win over second seeded Korean Son Wan Ho in a match that lasted an hour and 12 minutes. He will face Olympic champion and third seed Chen Long next.
However, Olympic silver medallist P. V. Sindhu and top seed Kidambi Srikanth bowed out of the tournament after suffering straight game losses.
While Sindhu, who had won a silver at the recent Commonwealth Games, lost 19-21, 10-21 to seventh seeded Korean Sung Ji Hyun while Srikanth was too erratic and went down 12-21, 15-21 to legendary Malaysian Lee Chong Wei, who showed he is not on the wane despite his spate of recent losses.
Brimming with confidence after winning the gold medal at the Gold Coast, in-form Saina showed great temperment as she bounced back from 3-8 and 9-13 deficits respectively, to first turn the tables at 14-13 and then walked away with the opening game.
The world No.15 Korean simply failed to put up a fight in the second game as Saina stamped her authority with a 8-1 lead.
Lee Jang reduced the gap to 8-12 but the Indian quickly made upward movements.