Future is here and now

In her maiden Worlds,Sindhu creates history by making womens singles semis and podium.

Rising shuttler PV Sindhu on Friday created history by becoming the first Indian woman singles player to ensure a medal at the World Badminton Championships,even as a podium finish remained elusive for Saina Nehwal as she lost for a third time in the quarterfinals.

In the process,Sindhu,who faces the promising Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand in the semifinal,made sure she will at least match Prakash Padukones feat of winning a singles bronze back in 1983. It will also be Indias second successive medal at the biennial event after Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappas womens doubles bronze in 2011.

Playing in her maiden World Championships,the 18-year-old Sindhu,seeded 10th,scored an upset 21-18 21-16 win over the local favourite and sixth seed,Shixian Wang,a former World No.1.

Sindhus compatriot and London Olympics bronze-medallist Nehwal,however,was erratic and could not hold her nerves as she went down rather tamely 21-23 9-21 in a 40-minute match against Korean Yeon Ju Bae at the Tianhe Indoor Stadium. In the mens singles,Parupalli Kashyap was one point away from a medal against World No. 3 Du Pengyu but lost 21-16 20-22 15-21.

World No. 12 Sindhu had defeated Shixian in their only previous meeting. On Friday,Sindhu relied on her smashes besides hitting as many as 19 clear winners. Sindhu dominated right from the start. From 3-3 in the first game,the India pulled away and never conceded.

While Sindhu is going through a dream run,having stunned the last editions champion,Yihan Wang,in the last match,another Indian hope Nehwal stumbled at the last-eight stage once again.

Error prone Nehwal

Nehwal played an aggressive game and opened up a 11-7 lead at the interval. Her baseline smashes got her a lot of points and she looked in control of the match.

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However,Bae,who looked off-colour initially as she struggled with her strokes and reach,slowly narrowed down the lead and clawed back at 19-19. Nehwal was struggling with the drift as she lost a lot of points hitting wide. The Indian also faltered at the net.

Bae exerted the pressure on the Indian and after a hard fight won the opening game when Nehwals shuttle kissed the net and toppled out.

Losing the game dented Nehwals confidence and she failed to offer any resistance to Bae thereafter. The left-handed Korean dominated the proceedings in the second game and opened up a 11-6 lead. The Koreans strokes were powerful and drops deceptive as she reduced Nehwal to a bystander.

Losing from Match point

On the adjacent court,world number 17 Kashyap opened up a 8-5 lead but Du clawed back and moved into the break with a two-point cushion at 11-9. The Indian then grabbed four straight points to wrest the lead and although Du caught up at 13-13,Kashyap kept his cool to pocket the first game.

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In the second game,Du zoomed to a 7-0 lead but Kashyap played a steady game and slowly caught up with the Chinese at 16-16 and turned the tables at 19-17. The Indian had a match point at 20-19,but Du held his nerve and roared back into the contest. In the decider,Kashyap marched ahead with a 9-4 lead but Du caught up at 12-12 and pulled away with the game and the match.

Lee,Lin On course

Top-seeded Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia and defending champion Lin Dan scored impressive quarterfinal wins Friday to stay on course for a much-anticipated mens final clash at the Badminton world championships.

Lee,who has lost to Lin in two Olympic finals as well as the last world championships in 2011,scored an easy 21-6,21-9 victory over eighth-seeded Indonesian Tommy Sugiarto to set up a semifinal clash with Du Pengyu.

Lin,unseeded after injuries and family commitments restricted his participation in international events over the past year,knocked out second-seeded Chinese compatriot Chen Long 21-13,22-20.

With inputs from AP