Indian teenager enters quarterfinals of Badminton Asia Championships.
PV Sindhu registered the greatest victory of her fledgling career by stunning third seed and World No. 6 Wang Shixian of China in the second round of the Badminton Asia Championships in Chinese Taipei on Thursday.
Sindhu, the next big thing after Saina Nehwal, emerged as the lone Indian survivor heading into the quarterfinal round. The 17-year-old, ranked 16th in the world, took 62 minutes to emerge a 15-21 21-14 22-20 winner against the higher-ranked Shixian. It was their first meeting.
Shixian, it may be recalled, had accounted for Nehwal in the semifinal of Swiss Open last month. She had won the crown there. Sindhu’s mighty effort speaks volumes of her capabilities. This win will surely boost her confidence.
In the quarterfinals on Friday, Sindhu will meet Japan’s Eriko Hirose for only the second time. Sindhu had stretched the Japanese — seeded seventh here — to three games before going down in the first round of the China Open last November.
Chief national coach P Gopichand told dna that the win would give Sindhu “a lot of confidence”.
“Overall, it was a good victory. Beating a player of Shixian’s calibre will hold her in good stead. She is young and we must give her a couple of years before expecting her to bring out her top game,” Gopichand said. So what did she do different? “Sindhu stuck to her strengths. Basically, she attacked her opponent and she did it well. Her approach won her a lot of points,” Gopichand added.
The former All England champion added that Sindhu would find it tough from now on but “we will take it as it comes”.
Eriko is quite experienced and the quarterfinal will be a tough match.”
Meanwhile, all the other Indians in the fray — including fourth seed P Kashyap — were eliminated on Thursday.
Kashyap, who beat local player Han Chou Chu 21-17 21-19 in the second round in the morning session, lost to China’s 15th seed Huan Gao 19-21 15-21 in a 50-minute clash later in the day
“Kashyap’s was a good match but he made crucial errors. He should have managed to win the first game but it went neck-and-neck before errors at the net cost him the match,” Gopichand said. Sai Praneeth (singles), and the doubles pairing of Ashwini Ponnappa and Pradnya Gadre lost in the second round without a fight.
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