What a victory! PV Sindhu overcame her blues and beat her fiercest rival Tai Tzu Ying to enter the semifinals of the BWF World Championships Basel, Switzerland on Friday. As expected, the hard-fought contest went down to the wire.
Having lost the first game by a considerable margin of 12-21, things looked to pan out as usual for the Indian who has had a tough season so far. However, the 2016 Silver Olympian came roaring back in the following sets to clinch the contest 23-21, 21-19.
Before the daunting game, the Sindhu stared at a staggering 4-10 trailing record against Tai Tzu in match-offs. The World No 2 Chinese Taipei shuttler had also stood in the Sindhu’s path of securing a fifth World Championship medal. However, she now has a realistic chance of achieving the feat of becoming the all-time highest of 5 along with Chinese double Olympic shuttler Zhang Ning (1 G, 2 S, 2 B). PV Sindhu has two silver medals to her name from the last two editions and a couple of bronze medals, ever since starting in 2013.
The Game
The first set started on a very fierce note, with both parties sharing pleasantries from the start. Having being tied at 2-2, Tai took a swift lead by first making it 3-8, before doubling the lead by 6-12. Her game was awash with pinpoint precision and some deadly drops.
Although Sindhu gave a mini-fight, it was too late as the Chinese Taipei player had raced to a 12-21 victory in the first set.
The second set started similarly with Tai first making it 2-2 before zooming to 5-8. Albeit this time, it was the Indian’s opportunity to take the lead. Sindhu took the lead for the first time when she made it 9-8 with a big smash. That small thing did wonders for the 24-year-old’s confidence as she never once trailed. Having seen the contest tied at 18-18, Sindhu won two quick game points to settle the second set with yet another thumping smash.
While the third set was relatively a struggle for the Indian shuttler, she 15-17 behind to defeat Tai Tzu by another close margin of 21-19.
Twitter Reactions
Sindhu-level comeback from PV Sindhu!
Humdinger of a match!
— Annesha Ghosh (@ghosh_annesha) August 23, 2019
@Pvsindhu1 top win from PV Sindhu in the quarter-finals today. It's fascinating to see how her form doesn't matter when it comes to big events. pic.twitter.com/nDR9cFBmF6
— Megha Challa (@megha_challa) August 23, 2019
SHE DOES IT AGAIN!!
The most dependable Badminton player of India,@Pvsindhu1 beats T. Y. Tai of ?? in a hard fought match 12-21|23-21|21-19 to move to Semis of #BWFWorldChampionships2019
Congratulations PV Sindhu, this was one gem of a match#badminton
? @scroll_in pic.twitter.com/TJ1fGdclzd
— IndInTokyo'2020 (@India_Olym2020) August 23, 2019
Another match, another comeback – just PV Sindhu things! ?♂
The Indian ace shuttler beat Tai Tzu Ying 12-21, 23-21, 21-19 in what turned out to be a #TOTALBWFWC2019 #Basel2019 classic!
Can she make it to the finals? Find out only on Star Sports and Hotstar!
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) August 23, 2019
Latest Update: Sai Praneeth becomes the first Indian men’s shuttler to get on a podium place after Prakash Padukone.
Prakash Padukone in 1983…..the wait ends finally for an Indian Men's singles player to get on the podium at the World Championships…..Well done Sai Praneeth
— Digvijay Singh Deo (@DiggySinghDeo) August 23, 2019
