PV Sindhu reaches World Championships semi-final after beating Nozomi Okuhara

PV Sindhu defeated Nozomi Okuhara 21-17 21-19 in quarterfinal to set up a semifinal against Akane Yamaguchi on Saturday.

PV Sindhu assured herself a bronze medal at Badminton World Championships. (File Photo)

PV Sindhu beat Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in straight games to cruise into the semifinals and assure herself of a medal in the World Championships in Nanjing on Friday.

Sindhu defeated Okuhara 21-17 21-19 in a 58-minute quarterfinal match to set up a semifinal clash against World No. 2 and another Japanese Akane Yamaguchi on Saturday.

The World No. 3 Indian produced a dominant display against her World No. 6 rival as she avenged her defeat in the last edition summit clash.

In both the games, Okuhara led initially but Sindhu was able to come back to take the honours.

Sindhu had lost to Okuhara in the final last year 19-21 22-20 20-22 but today, it was the India who got the upper hand throughout the match. The win by Sindhu meant that the head-to-head record between the two is now levelled at 6-6.

After the World Championships final last year, they had played five times against each other, including today’s, and Sindhu have won three of them as against two by Okuhara.

This will be Sindhu’s fourth medal from the World Championships as she has already won two bronze and a silver.

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Saina Nehwal’s impressive run, however, came to a disappointing end at the World Championships as she suffered a straight-game loss to two-time champion Carolina Marin.

In the men’s qurterfinals, B Sai Praneeth was no match to Kento Momota of Japan as he lost 12-21 12-21 in just 39 minutes.