World Badminton Championships Live: Kidambi Srikanth will be in action first. (Source: Reuters)
And it has come down to three – the three bigwigs of Indian badminton will hope to keep their run going at the World Championships when they take on respective opponents in Glasgow. The action begins with Kidambi Srikanth who takes on number one seed Son Wan Ho of South Korea. Later, PV Sindhu takes on Sun Yu of China and Saina Nehwal faces Kirsty Gilmour. Srikanth and Saina come into their matches having won in straight games on Thursday while Sindhu was made to toil and work hard in a gutsy and ugly win. But again as the saying goes a win is a win. Catch live scores and updates from World Badminton Championships 2017 here.
World Badminton Championships in Glasgow: Three singles matches to focus on for India: Srikanth, Sindhu and then Saina – all on Court 1.
1640 hrs IST: Yufei Chen beats Ratchanok Intanon 14-21, 21-16, 21-12 to enter women’s singles semi-finals.
1525 hrs IST: Srikanth misses his backhand! And then errs on the next point. Son Wan Ho wins it 21-14, 21-18 in 48 minutes to send Kidambi Srikanth out. The defeat ends Srikanth’s 13 match winning run. But what a comeback in the second game! He trailed 5-16 in the second game to make it 18-19. But lost the next two points!
1524 hrs IST: Another great jump smash here by Srikanth. Into the open court, on Son’s backhand and it goes unreturned. 18-19 now.
1523 hrs IST: Srikanth continuing his fight here. Has the deficit to three points. Misjudged by Son and it lands in. The Indian thumps two smashes – one down low and then into the open court. Job is not done yet…
1517 hrs IST: MAKE THAT FIVE AND WOW! Picks up a body smash, a low smash and forces Son into an error. The Korean with an error and it is 11-16
1516 hrs IST: INCREDIBLE! Srikanth with some insane gets to keep the point going. From the back, sides, drops and then wins the point with a winner. Four points in a row.
1515 hrs IST: Srikanth finally breaks the point streak for Son Wan Ho with a gentle push over the Korean for a winner. And then smashes at the net to reduce deficit but this may be too little, too late.
1513 hrs IST: Son Wan Ho is one step ahead of Srikanth each time. Almost as if he is reading Srikanth’s mind each time. Is ready for a drop shot as it comes across the net and smashes it into open court. Nothing the Indian can do and it has been one way traffic.
1508 hrs IST: Srikanth sends drop shot into the net. Same story from the first game. Not working for him at all. And has a convincing 11-4 lead at the break in the second game with a push into the final third
1506 hrs IST: Son doing well to catch Srikanth off guard by moving him around and mixing up the play. Sending one back, then drop, half smashes and ending the point with a pushed smash. But the Indian too fighting it out. Looks to be out of the point but an over enthused Son pays for his rush to close out the point. Srikanth with a simple return into open court.
1503 hrs IST: SRIKANTH LOSES HIS SHOW! Going back, Srikanth loses his footing and his shoe in the process. Coach Pullela Gopichand can’t help but smile. Srikanth looks confused! Son leads 5-2 in the second game
1458 hrs IST: Uh-oh. There’s that attempted drop shot error again and it gives Son game point. 20-14. Fittingly, it is closed with another Srikanth error with an attempt drop. Son takes the first game 21-14 in 20 minutes
1457 hrs IST: Srikanth goes for an angled cross court drop shot from the net and it seems to be wide. Called for a video review still. And it is in. Srikanth is still in it. That was very well angled though
1455 hrs IST: Srikanth with an attempted drop shot into the net. And then another error in the same style. Not going his way here. Son up to 19-13
1453 hrs IST: A little bit of a breather and water for Srikanth as Son comes back in it and regain his four point lead helped by some Srikanth errors. The Korean player is too quick and good to read Srikanth’s intentions and hits the shuttle right back to make it 17-12. Little luck of the net for Srikanth to lift the shuttle over and Son sends return into the net. 13-17
1452 hrs IST: Srikanth has dwindled the Korean’s advantage to just one point. 12-13. Son grazes the line with a gentle backhand push. Srikanth a second late to react there.
1446 hrs IST: Srikanth with some aggressive play to push the shuttle right back at the Korean. This won’t be an easy contest and Sri would have to take the match to the Korean with his aggressive play and needs much more of that
