Pusarla Venkata Sindhu certainly knows how to step up on the big stage.
On Friday, she knocked out world No.2 and All England Champion Wang Shixian of China 19-21, 21-19, 21-15 to storm into the semi-finals of the BWF World Championships in Copenhagen, bagging a second successive medal from the mega event.
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| Sindhu ( Photo by daily mail) |
In the previous edition in Guangzhou, Sindhu had won a bronze - a historic first for any woman Indian shuttler in the singles event.
Now, she has become the only Indian to win two World Championship medals.
Prakash Padukone is the other Indian to win a singles medal at the World Championships, interestingly it came in Copenhagen in 1983. In the semi-final, Sindhu will face Spain's Carolina Marin, the new sensation in the sport.
Marin got the better of Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei 19-21, 21- 19, 21-11. Sindhu has beaten Marin once but lost to her in the Australian Open in June.
"It is a great feeling. My effort now will be to change the colour of my medal," an ecstatic Sindhu told Mail Today from Copenhagen.
"It was a tense and crucial match. I'm happy that I was able to hold my nerve. I've often played long and close matches against her, so I was prepared for it. I was trailing 16-12 in the second game and I recovered well. It'd not have been possible without the motivation of my coach."
Saina, on the other hand, faltered in the quarter-finals for a fifth time in her career.
She went down to top seed and world No.1 Li Xuerui 15-21, 15-21.
Sindhu showed remarkable resilience and stamina as she rallied to win the marathon hour-and-25-minute match. In the decider, the lanky Hyderabadi pulled away from 15-15 to win six points in a row.
She had beaten the Chinese at the same stage in the previous edition too. Sindhu improved 4- 2 against Wang in the head-tohead record.
In the pre-quarterfinals, too, Sindhu had fought back from a game down against a higher-ranked, seeded sixth Korean Bae Yeon Ju.
by Daily mail
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