India women set up semis vs China
ing three goals (37th, 46th and 56th minutes), to allay fears about her form. While the India captain might be in good touch, injury concerns remain. She had picked up lower back and hip injury in the first match here.
Rani conceded that the first two quarters in extreme heat were “disappointing”. “Didn’t play the first two quarters the way we would have liked to. The passing was bad and it was a wake-up call for us,” said Rani.
“But returning to the field after missing two matches was a positive. I had a slight injury and this match has brought back the rhythm somewhat,” said Rani.
Against a water-tight Thai defence, Navjot Kaur and Rani found it hard to even get close to the circle in the first two quarters and the couple of penalty corners they earned went abegging because of lack of ingenuity --- a perennial issue.
But once the opener had been scored, by Rani who smashed the ball in after Udita’s full-blooded shot had been palmed away by the daring Thai goalkeeper Alisa Narueangram, the floodgates opened and Rani, Monika (52nd) and Navjot Kaur (55th) made it a one-sided contest.
However, Rani said, “the flair was missing, and it was probably because we were playing an afternoon match here for the first time. The confidence is high and we want to recover from the disappointments at Commonwealth Games — where India finished fourth — and the World Cup — where the team was eliminated in the quarter-finals and finished eighth.
India’s Dutch coach Sjoerd Marijne said the paucity of goals in the first two quarters was because the “players were protecting themselves from injuries and heat”.
“This match doesn’t matter. The confidence is high and the focus is on the semi-finals.”
On the reason for Rani not playing the last two games, Marijne said, “It was part of our strategy to protect players for important matches,” he said.
: PV Sindhu became the first Indian to enter the Asian Games badminton final when she beat world No 2 Akane Yamaguchi of Japan 21-17, 15-21, 21-10 in women’s singles semi-final here on Monday.
Sindhu, the world No 3, will meet world No 1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei in Tuesday’s gold medal match. Tai beat world No 10 Saina Nehwal 17-21, 14-21 in the other semi-final.
“I didn’t do well in the first match at the Games here (when Vietnam’s Vu Thi Trang took her to three games), but thereafter I have improved in every round. I hope to continue my good run against Tai in the final on Tuesday. I am determined to give my best shot in the final,” said Sindhu.
By making the semi-final, Saina was assured of a bronze, her first from the Games in her third attempt. Before Saina and Sindhu made the medal round, India’s only badminton singles medallist was Syed Modi, who bagged bronze in the men’s singles in the 1982 Asian Games.
At a packed GBK Istora auditorium, Sindhu showed great deception and control. She led 11-8 before racing ahead to 14-10. Yamaguchi managed to narrow the gap to 14-17 but Sindhu, silver medallist at the 2016 Rio Olympics and at the world championships this year, proved unstoppable in the first game.
However, the second game provided a twist in the tale as Sindhu, despite leading 10-6, lost her rhythm, allowing Yamaguchi to take control from 10-all. Yamaguchi, a world championship bronze medallist having lost to Sindhu in the semi-final ear-
JAKARTA