Saina on a roll, Sindhu sinks
Gold Coast CWG gold medallist moves into semis; Sindhu, Srikanth shown the door
WUHAN: Two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist Saina Nehwal continued her impressive run, progressing into the women’s singles semi-finals with a straight-game win over unseeded Korean Lee Jang Mi at the Asia Badminton Championship here on Friday.
Former world No 1 Saina showed her class as she dumped Lee Jang 21-15, 21-13 in a 43-minute clash. She will face either world No 1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei or Chinese eighth seed He Bingjiao.
However, Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu and top seed Kidambi Srikanth bowed out of the tournament after suffering straight-game losses. While Sindhu, who had won silver at the Commonwealth Games, lost 19-21 10-21 to seventh-seeded Korean Sung Ji Hyun, Srikanth again went down 12-21, 15-21 to Malaysian Lee Chong Wei, who showed he is not on the wane.
Brimming with confidence after winning gold at Gold Coast, in-form Saina showed great temperament 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 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 movement to seal the contest.
SINDHU FAILED TO GET PAST 2015 WORLD C’SHIP BRONZE MEDALLIST SUNG JI, AN OPPONENT SHE HAS PLAYED 11 TIMES
Sindhu, meanwhile, failed to get across 2015 World Championships bronze medallist Sung Ji, an opponent she has played 11 times, winning seven of those encounters. The 22-year-old Indian, who had recovered from an ankle sprain midway through the CWG, squandered a 16-12 advantage to allow Sung Ji pocket the opening game.
Sindhu wasn’t good enough in the second game as the Korean jumped to a 5-1 lead and kept her nose ahead at 11-9 during the interval. The world No 9 reeled off seven straight points to double her lead and soon shut the doors on the Indian.
A lot was expected from Srikanth after his win over Chong Wei en route to India’s maiden gold in mixed team event at CWG but the Malaysian came out all guns blazing, moving to a massive 13-4 lead in the opening game and closing the opening game without breaking a sweat.