Sen, Srikanth assured of maiden medals; Sindhu, Prannoy lose
Huelva (Spain): In a historic first, India were assured of at least two medals and one finalist in the men's singles competition of the BWF World Badminton Championships after the seasoned Kidambi Srikanth and young Lakshya Sen entered their maiden semifinals of the marquee event here on Friday.
However, it was disappointment for defending champion PV Sindhu, who lost to familiar foe Tai Tzu Ying in the women's singles quarterfinals.
It would have been a massive achievement for Indian badminton had HS Prannoy won his quarterfinal duel against Kean Yew Loh of Singapore, but he surrendered 14-21 12-21 in just 43 minutes.
Loh will face third seed Anders Antonsen of Denmark in the other men's singles semifinal.
But India are assured of at least a silver as Srikanth and Sen will face each other in the first semifinal on Saturday.
It turned out to be a historic day for Indian badminton as first Srikanth, seeded 12th in the showpiece tournament, sent Mark Caljouw of the Netherlands packing with a 21-8 21-7 win in a match that lasted just 26 minutes.
And then the unseeded Sen fought his heart out to get the better of China's Jun Peng Zhao 21-15 15-21 22-20 in an enthralling three-game encounter lasting one hour and seven minutes.
"I was confident in rallying it out. Both of us made some mistakes. At 20-all I slipped but I managed to pull off a winner and I got a bit lucky," said Sen.
"I haven't played Srikanth in three years, it's been a while, so it will be a good match. He's playing really well, he's beaten opponents in single digits this week.
"I'm also playing well, and we both play an attacking style. Let's see who makes the final. India is assured of a finalist, so that's a good thing. I will go all out," he added.
The two will join the legendary Prakash Padukone (bronze in 1983) and B Sai Praneeth (bronze in 2019) as the Indian medal winners at the showpiece.
"I just told myself I had to be in the match, I didn't want to give a big lead or make easy mistakes, I had to be focussed," said Srikanth.
"I'm happy to reach this stage. Coming into this tournament, I was only thinking of the first round. From there it was only about the next match."
Sindhu, who lost her quarterfinal match against Tai Tzu, has won five medals in the showpiece while Saina Nehwal has two medals to her name.
The women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa had also won a bronze in 2011.
The world number 14 Srikanth was ahead 11-5 at the first game's change of ends and from 14-8, he took seven straight points to pocket it in a jiffy.
The second game was no different as Srikanth completely outplayed his opponent. From 4-3, it was Srikanth all the way as he zoomed to another seven straight points. From 17-7, Sriknath pocketed another four points on the trot to win the match.
In the women's singles, Sindhu suffered a straight-game defeat to world number one Tai Tzu to bow out of the championships. The top-seeded Tai Tzu beat Sindhu 21-17 21-13 in an energy-sapping match that lasted 42 minutes.
