Manila: Indian shuttler PV Sindhu defeated China’s He Bing Jiao in the quarterfinals of the Badminton Asia Championships on Friday in Manila. In a nail-biting match, the two rivals brought the tie to a decider, with Sindhu winning 21-9, 13-21, 21-19 in 1 hour 16 minutes.
Sindhu had a dominant start to the first game, taking a commanding 11-2 lead. With brilliant cross-court angles and tremendous smashes, she was able to win the first game in just 13 minutes. Bingjiao regained her typical momentum in the second set to complete a stunning comeback. At the halftime break, the two contenders were tied 11-10. Sindhu lost the game due to a few unforced errors, and the match was going to a decider.
Following that, the chair umpire was perplexed, unsure whether the score should be 14-17, with Sindhu leading, or 15-16, as He Bingjiao suggested. The game was halted for several minutes, with a great deal of confusion and bustle circulating at such a key juncture in the game.
Sindhu, on the other hand, maintained her composure and continued to hit body smashes and delicate net play, eventually winning the match despite three match points saved by He Bingjiao. Sindhu qualified for the Badminton Asia Championships semi-finals for the first time since 2014, and she now has a good chance of winning at least a bronze medal.
Sindhu has qualified for the Badminton Asia Championships semi-finals for the first time since 2014, and she is now guaranteed at least a bronze medal. On the other hand, the dynamic doubles combo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty got defeated by the Malaysian pair of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in the quarters.
Despite being tremendously outstanding in the first game and dominating for the majority of it, Satwik-Chirag ran out of steam in the second, and the Malaysians took advantage of this to force the match into a decider.
The Tokyo bronze medalist duo of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik extended their head-to-head record to 4-0 over the Indian pair, prevailing 12-21, 21-14, 21-16 in a tough 53-minute struggle to terminate the campaign of the third-seeded Indian duo in this tournament.
Sindhu’s next opponent will be Akane Yamaguchi in the semi-finals.
