Sindhu reaches Worlds final; Praneeth settles for bronze

For the third year in a row, ace India shuttler PV Sindhu stormed into the finals of BWF World Championships after defeating China’s Chen Yu Fei in straight games.

The Rio Olympic silver medallist took 40 minutes to outclass World No. 3 Yu Fei 21-7, 21-14.

Sindhu looked sharp and focussed from the very first game itself while Yu Fei lacked pace as the Indian shuttler took just 15 minutes to take the first game.

Sindhu continued to dominate the chinese shuttler in the second game. However, Yu Fei showed some fight in the second game as compared to the one-sided first game. But it wasn’t enough to stop the Indian shuttler as she took the second game to enter the finals.

Sindhu will now take on the winner of the second women’s singles semi-final between former champions Ratchanok Intanon and Nozomi Okuhara in Sunday’s final.

Meanwhile, Sai Praneeth’s dream run came to an end with a 13-21, 8-21 loss to Japanese World No.1 Kento Momota. Praneeth kept pace with the defending champion for much of the first game, but Momota switched gears in the second and left the 27-year-old Indian reeling.

There was little to seperate the two before the interval of the first game. Praneeth fluctuated between defence and attack and hardly made an unforced error which meant that Momota was holding a slendor lead of 11-10 in the first game.

Momota started to assert himself after that and Praneeth started making a succession of unforced errors. Praneeth could only take two more points after resumption as Momota took the first game 21-13.

Praneeth was completely out of his depth in the second game with Momota relentlessly ticking away the points. The Indian started making a number of errors and by the time the interval came, Praneeth’s body language showed that he had resigned to his fate. Momota led 11-3 at the interval. Praneeth took just five more points and lost the second game 8-12.

Praneeth said that it was the unforced errors after the interval in the first game that brought his downfall. “I lost my rhythm after making four-five mistakes continuously after the break. He was also able to pick up all my attacks so I just blanked out,” he said.

Indo-Asian News Service