Sindhu to face Okuhara in repeat of 2017 final, Praneeth settles for Bronze
P V Sindhu stood one win away from an elusive World Championships Gold after entering a third successive final but B Sai Praneeth settled for Bronze following his defeat to Kento Momota here on Saturday.
Sindhu, who had claimed successive Silver in the last two editions of the prestigious tournament beside two Bronze, was a picture of perfection as she outclassed World No 3 and All England Champion Chen Yu Fei of China 21-7, 21-14 in a 40-minute semifinal.
The 24-year-old Olympic Silver medallist will take on Japan’s World No 4 Nozomi Okuhara in the summit showdown today. Two years ago, Okuhara had robbed off the Indian the title after an epic battle that went down as one of the greatest contests in badminton history.
The third seeded Okuhara outlasted former world champion Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon, seeded 7th, 17-21, 21-18, 21-15 in the other semifinal.
Overall, Sindhu enjoys a slender 8-7 advantage against Okuhara in 15 career meetings. The Indian will fancy her chances of a win, having beaten the Japanese on her way to the Indonesia Open final last month.
“I was well prepared and from the start I was in the lead and then finished it off,” Sindhu said.
“In the second game, I made some unforced errors and then I was leading again and it gave me my confidence. Overall, the game went well and I hope it goes well tomorrow (on Sunday).”
However, Praneeth’s impressive run ended after his attacking game couldn’t dent the defence of in-form defending champion Momota, going down to the Japanese World No 1 13-21, 8-21 in 41 minutes.
On Friday though, Praneeth achieved a rare distinction of becoming the first Indian male shuttler in 36 years to win a medal in the tournament.
Prakash Padukone was the first to win a men’s singles World Championships medal — a Bronze — in the 1983 edition.
After his dream run ending with Bronze, Praneeth described the feat as one of the best of his international career.
The 27-year-old from Hyderabad, who was conferred with the Arjuna Award this year said, “This was one of my best tournaments that I ever had in my career. There are lots of learning and positives to take. I think the recent performances have been good,” Praneeth told reporters.
Praneeth, who had finished runners-up at Swiss Open early this year, admitted he just couldn’t find the wherewithal to put pressure on Momota during the semifinal contest.
“Momota was varying the strokes. I was pushing the pace but I wasn’t getting the result. I was getting tired. I didn’t know what to do. I was blank. I was attacking but a few strokes went out,” he said.
“I couldn’t think anything except hitting the strokes and he was taking all the shots and I was hitting the net too often.”
The world No 19 Indian lavished praise on the world No 1 Japanese, terming him a “complete player”.
“He has got an all-round game and he can vary his game according to the opponent and that is a big plus point,” said Praneeth, the 2017 Singapore Open champion.
“If you see, Momota is a completely different player. You can’t go blindly and play him. You have to be fit and keep him in play and change the strategy all the time. The main thing is you have to be mentally fit.
“He has a lot of patience and variation. He can read his opponent. He has something different from others which is making everything tough to beat him. But we will figure it out and yeah, someday I will definitely beat him.”
