PV Sindhu celebrates her victory against Wang Shixian at the 2013 BWF World Championships in Guangzhou.
NAGPUR: After Saina Nehwal, it's now PV Sindhu's turn to make Indian badminton shine on the world stage.
All of 18, Sindhu stamped her credentials as the new giant-killer on the scene, by becoming the first shuttler from the country to make the World badminton championship semifinals in the women's singles.
By beating former world No. 1 Shixian Wang in straight games on Friday, the Hyderabadi also assured India of at least a bronze medal at the Tianhe Indoor Stadium in Guangzhou, China.
This is only the third time - and the first in women's singles - that India will be bringing home a medal from the Worlds, following the bronze-medal winning feats of Prakash Padukone in Copenhagen in 1983 and the Jwala Gutta-Ashwini Ponnapa doubles combine in 2011.
Sindhu kept the flag flying on a day that saw two of India's biggest badminton stars - Saina and Parupalli Kashyap - suffering defeats in the quarterfinals. Tenth seed Sindhu had already caused a big upset on Thursday, beating defending champion Yihan Wang of China.
But her committed effort against Wang, whom she beat 21-18, 21-17 in 55 minutes, was nothing short of spectacular. Experts are predicting that the tall teenager has the ability to even win the title.
Sindhu will now clash with fourth seed Ratchanok Intanon for a spot in the final on Saturday. The Thai girl prevailed over Carolina Marin of Spain 21-18, 20-22, 21-15 in a marathon quarterfinal which lasted for an hour and 17 minutes.
The clash between Sindhu and Ratchanok, also 18, will decide who deserves the bragging rights to the title of most talented teenage shuttler in the world.
Ratchanok had thrashed Sindhu 21-12, 21-6 in their only meeting so far at the India Open in April this year in New Delhi. Saturday's battle will provide Sindhu an opportunity to avenge that painful defeat.
India's main medal hope Saina, however, squandered away a promising start as South Korea's Yeon Ju Bae rallied superbly to win 23-21, 21-9 in 40 minutes. The 13th seed, left-handed Korean probably played the best match of her career to upset the third seed.
The London Olympics bronze medallist took off in superb fashion to go up 14-7 in the first game. The Korean bounced back to level the game at 19-all and then reached game point (21-20). Saina levelled the scores but the Korean sealed the first game on her second game point.
After losing the first game, Saina seemed to surrender meekly. This was her fourth consecutive quarterfinal loss in the World Championship after 2009, 2010, 2011.
Men's hope Kashyap, meanwhile, lost a close battle to Chinese World No.3 Pengyu Du 16-21, 22-20, 21-15. The 26-year-old Hyderabadi lad gave away a match point in the second game and lost the 75-minute encounter in the decider.
It was up to Sindhu to resurrect India's campaign, and she rose to the task admirably. "I am extremely pleased with the way Sindhu played today. Sindhu was very steady and worked hard for every point. She did not give up during the long rallies. There were several rallies in the game and she fought hard. Overall, she has been performing quite well," coach Pullela Gopichand told TOI.
About Sindhu's semifinal opponent, Gopi said, "Ratchanok is also very young and talented. She has had an excellent year so far. Sindhu will have to maintain her current form. I hope she will live up to expectations."
The coach, though, is still hurting from Saina's defeat. "For the last two-three days, Saina had a bad stomach. It was bothering her. After a rush of points initially in the first game - where she displayed lot of powerful smashes to gain a handy lead - she suddenly felt pain. She could not maintain the same energy level after that. Had Saina won the first game, the story could have been completely different," said Gopichand.
Gopi took the positives from Kashyap's defeat. He believed Kashyap surprised everyone with his performance in the last couple of days. "It was very unfortunate to see Kashyap lose because I think he played probably the best match of his life.
He gave it all but just could not finish it off. It's heartening to see Kashyap play so well against one of the toughest opponents on the circuit. This experience will do his confidence a lot of good," said Gopi
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