Manila, April 29: Ace India shuttler and double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu entered the semi-finals while the doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Renkireddy and Chirag Shetty bowed out of the Badminton Asia Championships here on Friday (April 29).
Sindhu registered a thrilling win over China's He Bing Jiao in the women's singles quarterfinals and assured herself a medal in the continental championships, which is making a return after a gap of two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The fourth-seeded Sindhu, who had claimed a bronze in the 2014 Gimcheon edition, got the better of the fifth-seeded Chinese 21-9 13-21 21-19 in a quarterfinal match that lasted an hour and 16 minutes.
World number 7 Sindhu came into the match with a 7-9 head-to-head record against Bing Jiao, whom she has beaten twice in the last two meetings. Sindhu galloped to 11-2 lead in no time and then kept things under her firm grip to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
Bing Jiao came back strongly after the change of sides, moving to 6-4 lead before managing a slender 11-10 advantage.
After the break, the Chinese reeled off five points on the trot to grab a 19-12 lead to eventually roar back into the contest.
In the decider, it was 2-2 early on but Sindhu unleashed her cross-court smashes to gather points, moving to a massive 11-5 lead going into the final change of ends.
Bing Jiao, however, scripted a recovery after the interval to narrow down the deficit to 15-16 as Sindhu let the momentum slip despite being 15-9 up at one stage.
It was 18-16 next with Sindhu's slice going to the net. The Indian then unleashed a body smash before grabbing four match points with Bing Jiao erring on the backcourt. The Chinese saved three match points before Sindhu prevailed.
Sindhu will now face Japan's Akane Yamaguchi - who top seed - in the semi-finals on Saturday (April 30).
Satwik-Chirag lose, India's doubles campaign ends
The third-seeded Indian doubles pair of Satwik and Chirag lost by 21-12, 14-21, 16-21 to the Malaysian duo of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik. Chia-Soh pair are the Tokyo 2020 bronze medallists and they extended their winning streak to 4-0 against the Indians.
The Indian pair was no match to the Malaysians in the first game but make a strong comeback in the second to take it to the decider but the duo the world number seven pair committed several errors which cost them the match.