Sindhu assured of bronze, Guru loses in Asian Badminton

P.V. Sindhu, India's best bet at the $200,000 Badminton Asia Championships, won from a game down to progress to the women's singles semifinals at the Gimcheon Indoor Stadium here Friday. PTI File Photo

Teen sensation P V Sindhu assured herself of a bronze medal after reaching the semifinals of the prestigious Asian Badminton Championship with a thrilling three-game victory in the women's singles event here today.

World number 10 Sindhu took close to an hour to outwit Ongbumrungpan Busanan 14-21 21-13 21-10 to stretch her head-to-head record against the Thailand girl to 3-0, at the Gimcheon Indoor Stadium.

The 18-year-old, who had won the bronze medal at the World Championship last year, will next look to avenge her India Super Series loss to China's Shixian Wang, the two-time reigning All England Champion.

In the men's singles, rising shuttler R M V Gurusaidutt played his heart out before losing 24-22 9-21 13-21 to Liu Kai of China in a match that lasted for an hour.

Sindhu faltered with her smashes in the first game and made a few errors as Busanan took the game away to put the Indian on the backfoot, before she bounced back brilliantly in the second.

Down 8-10 in the second, Sindhu produced cross court smashes and played well at the nets too, even as Busanan made a lot of errors. In the third game, Sindhu dominated right from start and comfortably closed the door on her rival.

"Overall, it was a good match, Sindhu played very well apart from the first game. From the second game onwards, she was up and her smashes also improved and she dominated the third game," National coach Pullela Gopichand told PTI.

Sindhu's father Ramana was confident that Sindhu would be able to avenge her loss to Shixian tomorrow.

"I am sure she will play well tomorrow and beat Shixian. She is world number two but I think Sindhu knows what she has to do," he said.

India's top shuttler Saina Nehwal had won the bronze in the 2010 Asian badminton Championship at Siri Fort Stadium in New Delhi. 

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