Nanjing (China): Shuttlers Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu sailed into the women’s singles quarterfinals but another medal hope, Kidambi Srikanth, crashed out of the Badminton World Championships here Thursday suffering a straight-game loss.
Saina downed 2013 champion Ratchanok Inthanon of Thailand 21-16, 21-19 to set up a meeting with Olympic champion and two-time World Champion Carolina Marin of Spain. The Spaniard trounced Sayaka Sato of Japan 21-7, 21-13.
In the last match of the day, third seed Sindhu beat Hyun Ji Sung of Korea 21-10, 21-18. After easily winning the first game, the Indian also built a comfortable 11-4 lead in the second. However, some unforced errors by Sindhu in the second game allowed the Korean to close the gap to 18-20. But Sindhu held her nerves to win the game and with it the match.
The Indian mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa also stood one step away from a medal after pulling off a stunning 20-22, 21-14, 21-6 victory over the Malaysian World No.7 combination of Goh Soon Huat and Shevon Jemie Lai.
However, fifth seed Srikanth’s dream of winning a medal came crashing after he was outwitted 18-21, 18-21 by the experienced Malaysian Daren Liew in a 41-minute clash.
“I had my chances but couldn’t keep the shuttle in. Too many smashes out, too many mistakes I committed. I should have handled it much better,” a disappointed Srikanth said after his match.
Saina showed amazing retrieving skills against Inthanon, who is on a comeback trail after recovering from an injury.
“It is a very good win. She (Inthanon) is known for a deceptive game. Second game was going my way, but suddenly she played some good strokes and caught up at 19-all. At that point, Gopi sir (Pullela Gopichand) played a big role. He told me what to do and I followed that and the game turned in my favour,” Saina said.
Talking about her next match against Marin, Saina said: “I have played her at Denmark Open last, she is quick and aggressive and it would be a challenging match for me and I will just look to give my best.”
Earlier, Ashwini and Satwik showed great composure as they recovered from a game down to prevail over their higher-ranked opponents.
The Malaysians took the first game and were leading 6-2 in the second. However, once the Indians caught up with them at nine-all, the game turned on its head. Ashwini and Satwik then started dominating proceedings and won the second game quite easily.
In the decider, the Indian pair was brilliant as they aggressively dominated proceedings. They led 11-4 at the interval and continued in the same vein after the breather to storm into the quarters.
