All England Badminton Championship Day 3: Sindhu enters the semi-finals
PV Sindhu registered a great comeback from one-set down and entered
the semi-finals of the prestigious All England Badminton Championship 2021
played at Birmingham on Friday.
The women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy
went down fighting to Selena Piek and Seinen of the Netherlands in two straight
games. It was an aggressive start by the Netherlands pair who put Ponnappa and
Reddy under immense pressure with smashes. Piek and Seinen took an 11-7 lead at
the interval. After the break, the Indian pair made a strong comeback with good
attacking play and leveled the scores at 15-15. Both pairs fought for each
point right down the wire, but Netherland’s pair held their nerves to win the
first game at 24-22.
It was a dominating performance by the Netherlands pair in
the second game-winning it easily by 21-12 to move into the semi-finals.
Lakshya Sen went down fighting to Mark Crajouw of
Netherlands in three games. It was an even start to the game as both players
took alternate points and put other opponent under pressure. At the mid-game
break, Netherlands player-led 11-9. After the mid-game break, Sen showed some
class with attacking play, but Mark won the first game easily at 21-17.
The second game saw a much better performance by Sen
dominating the opponent right from the word go. At the interval, Sen led 11-6.
After the break, the Indian continued to dominate despite Mark's efforts. The
Indian won the 2nd game easily at 21-16 to force the game into the
decider.
In the final and deciding game, Mark played with aggression
and showed his class putting the Indian under pressure. At the mid-game
interval, Netherlands had a commanding 11-6 lead. After the break, Sen made a
strong comeback to level the score at 16-16, but Mark held his nerves to book a
spot in the semi-finals.
PV Sindhu staged a wonderful comeback win to defeat Akane
Yamaguchi of Japan in three grueling games. The first game saw Yamaguchi put
enough pressure on Sindhu and took an 11-6 lead at the interval. Sindhu fought
back strongly with rallies, but Yamaguchi won the first game at 21-16.
The second game saw Sindhu dominate the Japanese with
smashes taking an 11-6 lead at the interval. After the break, there were long
rallies shots of 25, 29, and 36 but the Indian did not allow Yamaguchi to win the second game at 21-16.
In the deciding game, Sindhu started off aggressively and
put Yamaguchi under immense pressure taking lead at the start maintaining till
the break. After the break, the Japanese fought back strongly to take 4 points
in succession to level the scores at 15-15. The match went right down the wire
with both players taking alternate points till 19-19. Sindhu held her nerves to
win it 21-19.
It was an amazing performance by Sindhu who has been inconsistent
with her performance. She will take on Chochuwong of Thailand.
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