Indian star shuttler PV Sindhu's medal is assured as she beat Japan's Nozomi Okuhara in straight sets to enter semis; Saina Nehwal loses to Carolina Marin
PV Sindhu celebrates her win over Japan's Nozomi Okuhara in the quarter-finals in China yesterday. Pic/AFP
Star Indian shuttler PV Sindhu beat Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in straight games to cruise into the semi-finals and assure herself of a medal in the World Championships yesterday.
Sindhu defeated Okuhara 21-17, 21-19 in a 58-minute quarter-final match to set up a semi-final clash against World No. 2 and another Japanese Akane Yamaguchi today. The World No. 3 Indian produced a dominant display against her World No. 6 rival as she avenged her defeat in the last edition summit clash.
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Saina Nehwal
In both the games today, Okuhara led initially but Sindhu was able to come back. Sindhu had lost to Okuhara in the final last year but yesterday, it was the Indian who got the upper hand.
The win by Sindhu meant that the head-to-head record between the two is now levelled at 6-6. After the World Championships final last year, they had played five times against each other, including today's, and Sindhu have won three of them as against two by Okuhara.
B Sai Praneeth out
In the men's quarter-finals, B Sai Praneeth was no match to Kento Momota of Japan as he lost 12-21, 12-21 in just 39 minutes. Saina Nehwal's impressive run came to a disappointing end at the World Championships as she suffered a straight-game loss to two-time champion Carolina Marin. It turned out to be a lop-sided contest between the 2015 edition finalists as reigning Olympic champion Marin once again produced her 'A' game on the big occasion to complete an emphatic 21-6, 21-11 victory.
Rankireddy-Ponnappa exit
Mixed doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy also couldn't cross the quarter-final hurdle, losing 17-21, 10-21 to top seeds Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong of China.
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