Basel (Switzerland), Aug 23 (IANS) Shuttler Sai Praneeth on Friday ended India's 36-year wait for a medal in the men's section of the BWF World Championships by sealing his place in the semifinals of the prestigious event, thereby assuring himself a bronze medal.
After Prakash Padukone clinched a bronze at the Worlds in 1983, Praneeth quenched India's thirst for an elusive medal by stunning world No. 4 Jonatan Christie of Indonesia 24-22, 21-14 in the quarterfinal.
Praneeth's triumph came little after P.V. Sindhu assured herself of a fifth World Championships medal as she rallied to beat world No. 2 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei 12-21, 23-21, 21-19 for a place in the semifinals, thus keeping alive her hopes of a third straight appearance in the Worlds final.
Tai Tzu has a superior record against Sindhu, but Sindhu had won in their last meeting in 2018.
Tai Tzu, who last year claimed Chinese Taipei's first-ever badminton gold at the Asian Games, opened up a 7-point lead and from then on peppered Olympic silver medallist Sindhu with back-to-back smashes.
A brilliant rally saw Tai Tzu maintain her dominance and win the first game 21-12 as Sindhu had no answer to her returns.
The Indian started strongly in the second game, winning her first point with a strong smash. Tai Tzu fought back to take a 5-3 lead before Sindhu levelled the score at 8-8 and then led 11-9 at the break.
The rallies were long and Sindhu even fell to the floor while attempting to return a sharp Tai Tzu shot.
It was a see-saw battle after the breather as both Sindhu and Tai Tzu refused to budge. It was even at 21-21 before Sindhu showed composure and skill to win the game 23-21 to stay afloat.
In the decider, Tai Tzu opened up a 5-2 lead before Sindhu fought back to go into the break trailing 9-11. It was exhilarating badminton from there on as Sindhu took the lead from 15-15 before winning 21-19.
Just a week after being chosen for the Arjuna Award, world No. 19 Praneeth breezed past Christie 24-22, 21-14 in 51 minutes to progress to the semifinals.
Christie earned the first point of the match but after taking a 4-2 lead, he frittered the advantage as Praneeth started to take charge of the proceedings.
Praneeth went into the break with a slender 11-10 lead and looked more dangerous after the breather to win a close game.
Praneeth was in his elements in the second game, as Christie made a number of mistake. The Indian went into the break with a massive 11-3 advantage as Christie kept gifting him with easy points.
After the break, Christie tried to make a comeback but Praneeth held on with a flurry of smashes to close the deal in his second match point.
In the semifinal, Praneeth will be up against defending champion and world No.1 Kento Momota of Japan.
About Gopi
Gopi Adusumilli is a Programmer. He is the editor of SocialNews.XYZ and President of AGK Fire Inc.
He enjoys designing websites, developing mobile applications and publishing news articles on current events from various authenticated news sources.
When it comes to writing he likes to write about current world politics and Indian Movies. His future plans include developing SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgment towards any.
He can be reached at gopi@socialnews.xyz