PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal reach World Championships semi-final, assured of at least Bronze

Pusarla Venkata Sindhu has assured herself at least a Bronze, her third at BWF World Championships, following a 39-minute demolition -- 21-14, 21-9 -- of world number six Sun Yu in the quarter-final of the ongoing world meet in Glasgow on Friday, August 25.

Sindhu, the fourth seed and one of the title favourites, showed no signs of fatigue following her one hour and 27 minute-long battle against Hong Kong's Cheung Ngan Yi in the R16, which she won 19-21, 23-21, 21-17 on Thursday, August 24.

Also read: Saina Nehwal quarter-final live streaming, start time

Sindhu, who had won Bronze at the 2013 and 2014 editions, made a brisk start and in no time was leading Sun 8-4. The Rio Olympic Silver medallist went into the break at 11-4. She never took her foot off the pedal and won the first game 21-14.

Coach's delight!

Coach Mulyo Handoyo and badminton chief coach Pullela Gopichand were personifications of happiness on the sidelines. The Indonesian tactician was visibly overwhelmed by Sindhu's slow drop shots, that broke Sun's spirits.

Sindhu looked delightful with her play from the back of the court as she did not have the need to employ her jump smashes. Sun was helpless as she was made to run all over the court, without much success.

The second game started in a similar fashion as Sindhu quickly took a 4-0 lead, that crushed any chances of a Sun comeback. The 22-year-old clinched the second game 21-9 to complete the mauling.

Sindhu will now face world junior champion Chen Yufei of China, who defeated 2013 World Champion Ratchanok Intanon, in the semi-final on Saturday, August 26. 

Saina joins Sindhu

Saina, on the other hand, stormed into the final after clinching a thriller against local hope Kristy Gilmour 21-19, 18-21, 21-15. The 12th-seeded shuttler's new-found confidence after the R16 win over second seed Sung Ji Hyun was evident as she was unfazed by the valiant effort from the Scotland shuttler.

Saina, the 2015 World Championships Silver medallist, will now face Japan's sixth seed Nozomi Okuhara in the semi-final on Saturday.

Srikanth misses medal opportunity

Meanwhile, India's highest-ranked Men's singles shuttler Kidambi Srikanth suffered a heartbreaking loss in the morning session against world number one Son Wan Ho.

After a patchy start, the winner of 2017 Indonesia and Australian Open made a strong comeback in the second game, but it was too late as Son won the match 21-14, 21-18.