Sindhu storms into semis

Ashwini, Jwala in doubles last four; Guru ousted

Teen sensation PV 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 on Friday.

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 RMV Gurusaidutt played his heart out before losing 24-22, 9-21, 13-21 to Liu Kai of China in a match that lasted an hour.

Sindhu faltered with her smashes in the first game and made a few errors as Busanan took the game away to her on the backfoot. Down 8-10 in the second, Sindhu produced cross court smashes and played well at the net 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.

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

Commonwealth Games gold medallists pair of Ashwini Ponappa and Jwala Gutta also assured themselves of a bronze medal after a 21-12, 21-12 win over Anscelly Amelia Alicia and Soong Fie Cho of Malaysia.

Up against Liu, Gurusaidutt had a difficult time taming his rival, but his determination and grit helped him to eke out a 24-22 win in the first game and earn the bragging rights.