PV SINDHU ASSURED OF BRONZE
Rio silver medallist brushes aside Chinese World No 6 to ensure third medal at meet
NEW DELHI: PV Sindhu did not have to break a sweat as she eased past World No.6 Sun Yu 21-14, 21-9 to enter the women’s singles semi-finals for the third time at the World Championships, in Glasgow on Friday.
The 2016 Rio Olympics silver medallist needed just 39 minutes to dismiss the Chinese fifth seed to assure herself a third World Championships medal, a feat achieved by no other Indian.
The 22-year-old Sindhu, who time and again has shown how to lift herself at the big stage, always brings out a game which is good enough to beat the best.
“I am happy with the way I played today and pleased with the results. Even though I won, I must admit that Sun Yu is not an easy player to play against and I had lost to her the last time we played (in Dubai),” said Sindhu.
Unlike in the previous three decades, when Indian shuttlers struggled at the world’s biggest stage, the Pullela Gopichand-coached outfit have been among medals in recent times.
Prakash Padukone pioneered India’s success at the Worlds, winning a men’s singles bronze at the 1983 edition.
India had to wait for another 28 years before Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa clinched a women’s doubles bronze at the 2011 Worlds. Since then, Indian women have ensured they don’t return empty handed from the annual event.
Sindhu won successive bronze medals in 2013 and 2014 and Saina Nehwal went a step further, winning silver at the 2015 edition. (World Championships are not held in the Olympic year). Such was Sindhu’s dominance on Friday that the fourth seed won 42 of the 65 points played in the match to register her fourth victory over the Chinese in eight meetings.
“I went on the court thinking I need to give my best and play my game. It wasn’t easy and each point was important to me, even though I was leading,” she said.
At the start, Sindhu rushed to a 3-0 lead. Sun tried closing the gap at 4-5 but made far too many errors and poor line judgement calls, allowing Sindhu to take a 13-4 lead. The unforced errors made it too easy for a player of Sindhu’s calibre, who needed just 19 minutes to win the game. She did not even have to use her ‘killer’ smashes and closed it on her second game point.
One would have expected China’s top player to fight back in the second game but Sun Yu had lost confidence after losing the first. She continued making errors and Sindhu took the momentum into the second game. The fourth seed needed only one match point to finish the contest.
Sindhu next faces ninth seed and World No.10 Chen Yufei, who ousted former World Champion Ratchanok Intanon in the quarterfinals earlier in the day.