Badminton World Championships: PV Sindhu survives scare, Kidambi Srikanth eases into quarter-finals
PV Sindhu came back from behind to beat Cheung Ngan Yi 19-21, 23-21, 21-17 while Kidambi Srikanth eased past Anders Antonsen 21-14, 21-18.
India’s top hopes PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth advanced to quarter-finals with constrasting victories at the Badminton World Championships in Glasgow on Thursday.
While Sindhu was made to work hard for her win and came back from behind to win the match against Cheung Ngan Yi of Hong Kong, Srikanth comfortably dispatched Denmark’s Anders Antonsen in straight games.
Sindhu took an hour an 27 minutes to fight off the 13th seed 19-21, 23-21, 21-17 after a sluggish start from her let Cheung take control of the match.
Cheung completely took Sindhu by surprise and unsettled her that led to the first game loss.
However, the Indian top seed came back into the match in the second game. Even though Sindhu didn’t look her best as she gave away three match points but held her nerves to escape a disappointing loss.
The third game was where Sindhu came all out and made sure not to let Cheung take control of the court. Sindhu’s attacking prowess came to the fore as the Indian comfortably took the third game and the match.
Sindhu will next be up against fifth seed Sun Yu of China, who earlier beat Beatriz Corrales of Spain 21-11, 19-21, 23-21.
A complete contrast to Sindhu, Srikanth took just 42 minutes to outplay the Danish 21-14, 21-18 and continued his sublime form.
Srikanth began in his usual manner taking stock of his opponent and soon exerted his dominance by taking six points on the trot to go into the break 11-6.
Since both Srikanth and Antonsen are attacking players, Srikanth used a lot of wrist movements and played the Danish at the net, making quick exchanges and forcing him to play mostly from the backcourt
Srikanth maintained his lead and comfortably took the first game in just 17 minutes.
The second game began in the same manner with a confident Srikanth playing his strokes well and opened up an early 4-1 lead.
Antonsen fought well but was no match to the Indian’s strength and control and the Indonesia Open and Australian Open winner easily took the match.
Srikanth will next face first seed Son Wan Ho, who beat Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand 21-14, 17-21, 21-13.
“It was a tough match, he (Antonsen) came back well in the second game and there were many intense rallies but I am happy with the way I pulled off those crucial points,” Srikanth told India Today after the match.
Srikanth said that he was looking forward to the game tomorrow and will “sit with my coach and plan.”
Ajay Jayaram bowed out of the tournament with a hefty 11-21, 10-21 loss to defending champion Chen Long of China.
Jayaram was no trouble at all for Chen Long as he literally toyed around with the Indian and defeated him in just 41 minutes.
Earlier in the day, Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy went down fighting the seventh seed Praveen Jordan and Debby Susanto of Indonesia 22-20, 18-21, 18-21 in the pre-quarterfinals.
The Indian duo played a good attacking game but it was their unforced errors that lost them the match.
On the other hand, five-time champion Lin Dan fought back from behind to beat England’s Rajiv Ouseph 14-21, 21-17, 21-16 to reach the quarter-finals.
Despite a slow start in each of the three games, Lin Dan used all his experience to turn out at the right moments and beat the 16th seed.
Lin Dan will next face either Shi Yuqi of China or Wong Wing Ki Vincent of Hong Kong.
In a massive upset, top seed Akane Yamaguchi lost 18-21, 19-21 to Chinese ninth seed Chen Yufei.
In a match that lasted just 52 minutes, Chen forced Yamaguchi to move across the court and the Japanese was unable to keep pace.
Despite going close in both games, Yamaguchi eventually lost in straight games.
