Sindhu stretched to limit by Thai challenger, enters last 8
ALL ENGLAND BADMINTON Indian World No. 3 defeats No. 11 Nitchaon Jindapol in three games in over an hour
BIRMINGHAM: Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu progressed to the quarterfinals of the All England Championship with a hard-fought win over Thailand’s Nitchaon Jindapol in women’s singles, here.
The world No 3 Indian recovered from a mid-way slump to overcome the Thai shuttler 21-13, 13-21, 21-18 in a match which lasted an hour and seven minutes. Jindapol produced some superb strokes but Sindhu was always a step ahead.
“I definitely need to improve. I am happy to pull off a tough match. I hope I would go back , recover and come back stronger tomorrow,” Sindhu said after the match. “She is not an easy player. She gave away easy points initially and after winning the first game, it was not easy as there were long rallies. She has got good strokes,” Sindhu added.
Coming into the contest, Sindhu had a 2-1 head-to-head record against Jindapol, who is enjoying a career-best rank of 11.
The Indian kept the shuttle in play, pushing Jindapol to the corners and returning the shuttles with immaculate ease early on.
In the first game, the duo split the initial six points before Sindhu jumped to a 7-3 lead after winning a long rally. Sindhu played a brilliant backhand return to move to 8-3 and entered the interval with another precise stroke at the back of the court.
After the breather, Sindhu moved to a 15-7 lead and kept piling on the misery on the Thai who kept hitting the net and wide to bleed points.
A body smash took Jindapol to double figures but she couldn’t go far as Sindhu grabbed a massive game point advantage with a deceptive return at 20-13. Jindapol then hit long to hand the game to the Indian.
In the second game, Jindapol anticipated better and seemed more attacking in her approach and quickly opened up a 7-3 lead with a straight smash.
Sindhu hit wide and also mis- cued a backhand return. Jindapol used a reverse slice and dominated the rally next to zoom to a 11-3 advantage at the break.
Jindapol played an exceptional wristy deceptive return at the net and was all pumped up as she added more power in her strokes. Sindhu too looked to step up the pace of the rallies and narrowed the gap to 10-14.
Jindapol enjoyed a lucky net chord and Sindhu sent one long as the Thai shuttler lead 17-10 with another superb return.
Sindhu closed the gap to 13-17 with three straight points with some precise returns. A bad judgement and two successive wide shots from Sindhu gave Jindapol seven game points and she sealed it with a smash to roar back into the contest.
Sindhu looked more focused in the decider as she pumped herself with each point.
LEE WANTS CAREER LIKE FEDERER
Badminton great Lee Chong Wei wants his world federation to give him similar treatment to that which has helped Roger Federer extend his tennis career.
The 35-year-old Chong Wei, defending his title at the All England Championships this week, says he’s “freaked out” by the Badminton World Federation’s new regulations which require the tour’s leading 15 players to compete in a minimum of 12 top tournaments to help promote the tour and sport.
When the quota is added to the Malaysian’s other commitments to his national association and to sponsors, his annual tournament total could rise to 19 - too many for health and longevity, he believes, in a career already extended at the highest level longer than most people expected.
“How can a top player cope? If the world body persists, the top players will not be able to give their best. They’ll eventually be burnt out,” Chong Wei said.
Meanwhile, Chong Wei and China’s Lin Dan eased through their opening matches even aswomen’s third seed Ratchanok Intanon crashed out.