PV Sindhu enters third consecutive BWF World Championships final. (Source: Reuters)PV Sindhu advanced to the final of the BWF Badminton World Championships for the third consecutive year as she beat China’s Chen Yufei 21-7, 21-14 in a one-sided women’s singles semifinal in Basel. Meanwhile, B Sai Praneeth succumbed to a defeat in a lop-sided men’s singles semifinal against Japan’s Kento Momota losing 13-21, 8-21 on Saturday.
Hat-trick of finals! 💪@Pvsindhu1 maintains her perfect record against Chinese shuttlers at #BWFWorldChampionships to dismiss WR 3 #ChenYufei 2⃣1⃣-7⃣, 2⃣1⃣-1⃣4⃣ to advance to the final for the 3rd year in a row!
One win away from the #GOLD! 👏#IndiaontheRise #Sindhu pic.twitter.com/kaCbkpECst
— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) August 24, 2019
Unlike Sindhu’s quarter-final encounter against World No. 2 Tai Tzu Ying, the Indian shuttler dominated the match right from the word go. After a couple of long rallies, which was coupled with some powerful smashes, Sindhu crushed her opponent, winning the first game by a massive 14 points-lead.
Chen Yufei showed glimpses of a fightback in the second game, as she initially maintained a neck-to-neck battle against the Indian. However, after the mid-game interval, the Chinese lost her way making errors one after the other, eventually losing the game by seven points.
In the final, Sindhu will play the winner of the second semifinal between Ratchanok Intanon and Nozomi Okuhara.
This is @Pvsindhu1‘s 20th win at the #BWFWorldChampionships. Since her Worlds debut in 2013, that’s the joint-most with @CarolinaMarin in women’s singles.#BWFWorldChampionships2019 @BAI_Media
— Mohit Shah (@mohit_shah17) August 24, 2019
In the men’s singles semifinal match featuring B. Sai Praneeth, the Indian fell to defeat to Japanese Kento Momota in straight sets in just 41 minutes. After making a valiant start in the first game, keeping things level at 10-10, Momota breezed past him to win it 21-13. In the second game, the World No 1 kept it straightforward, notching it up quickly by 21-8.
Praneeth had to settle for a bronze in the World Championships final, which is a first for an Indian in men’s singles for 36 years. Prakash Padukone was the first to win a men’s singles World Championships medal, a bronze, in the 1983 edition.
