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Pusarla Venkata Sindhu, India's only survivor at the Thailand Open Badminton Championships, sailed serenely into the penultimate round of the Level Four World Tour Tournament with a comfortable victory 21-17 and 21-13 against Malagasy Soniia Cheah Friday's quarter-finals at Nimibutr Stadium in Pathumna, central Bangkok
Late withdrawals following the Indonesian Open from last week, and before the Singapore Open next week, have taken a lot of luster. The competition, made all the more mediocre by the absence of his local favorite and triple winner of the Thailand Open, Ratchanok Intanon
Intanon, who won the world crown in 2013 at the The tender age of 18, also remains the youngest junior world champion, having won the title at the age of 14 in 2009, and successfully defended the following year. Thai ace showed signs of stiffness during his quarterfinal defeat of the 12-21, 12-21 Indonesia Open against Korean Sung Ji Hyun. According to coach Patapol Ngernsrisuk, the injury is not serious, but the former world number 1 has been advised by his doctor to take a short break in the game.
The withdrawal of defending champion Intanon at the last minute reduced the quality of the opposition in the lower half of the draw for the female singles, who had only another head Nitchaon Jindapol from the host country. The No. 8 seed was a bunch of nerves while being sidelined by Cheah in the first round, which eased the way for Sindhu, who is 2-1 head-to-head against Malaysian. Having not faced the past seven years, having won a 2010-2011 victory, the two men showed Friday that Sindhu had left far behind him.
The Indian, second-seeded, who has come a long way in Indonesia The open quarter-final against Chinese left-handed He Bingjiao has never faced the other top-10 women's Bangkok and n & # 39; 39, had no problem.
The Bulgarian Linda Zetchiri, Sindhu was in full flow, until she gradually released her foot off the pedal, to record a 21-8, 21-15 triumph routine. She was also not troubled by the Hungarian Yip Pui Yin, against whom she had a 3-0 advantage over the loss and quickly raised the score to 4-0 with an easy win 21-16 , 21-14. [19659002] Sindhu's demolition of Cheah's challenge prepares her for a meeting Saturday with Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia, ranked modest 29. Adolescent Tunjung is the new face of Indonesian women's badminton, dominated in the last decades of the century last by such illustrious players as Olympic champion Susi Susanti, Verawaty Wiharjo and Ivana Lie Ing Hoa
Tunjung scored an impressive 21-17, 21-8 quarter-final victory over Canada's No. 13 seed Michelle Li. She narrowly missed out on her seeded spot and finished eighth with a notable win over Thai hope, Busanan Ongbumrungpan. The 18-year-old Indonesian, however, drags Sindhu 0-2 into career meetings, with her most recent loss coming to Syed Modi International in January last year.
Sindhu, who turned 23 last week in Jakarta, is the favorite to go around the championship where she could meet the American Zhang Beiwen, seventh seed, or the Nozomi Okuhara, fourth in the standings. World, reigning world champion of Japan, who will cross the swords in the other semifinal. 19659002] Zhang toppled the notebook with his effective and sensible game, finding an inadequate response from world number two, Akane Yamaguchi of Japan, by a score of 14-21, 21-19, 21-19. Friday. Okuhara was also pulled off by her Uber Cup teammate, Aya Ohori, before she could get her hands up for a 21-12, 15-21, 21-19 triumph . The 23-year-old Japanese is strongly encouraged to score against Zhang, whom she leads 3-0 in a career-to-head match.
As for the men's singles draw, there was carnage even before the competition began, which continued even after the players hit the courts. The last-minute removal of the first three seeds left India HS Prannoy, at No. 4, as the highest surviving seed. He stumbled in his first match against Spaniard Pablo Abian by a margin of 21-16, 21-19, but he returned to 14-21, 18-21 against the veteran resurgent, the Australian Sony Dwi Kuncoro, a world championship runner … until the Chinese Lin Dan in 2007.
The astute Kuncoro, who has passed the round of 16 of the Thailand Open, will face 39 one of the three Thomas of Japan. Kanta Tsuneyama's K (the others being Kento Momota and Kenta Nishimoto), for a place in the final. The two have never met before, and aficionado badminton could do worse than put his shirt on Kuncoro, like Lin Dan, a 34-year-old vintage.
The other semifinal, which is also totally lacking The former world championship bronze medalist from Indonesia, Tommy Sugiarto, will face Suppanyu Avihingsanon. Sugiarto edged Thailand's Kantaphon Wangcharoen 21-11, 11-21, 21-13, while Avihingsanon delivered the final blow to No. 5 seed Kenta Nishimoto of Japan at 21-19. , 21-16.
The quarterfinals were reversed, we would have had a semifinal between Kenta and Kantaphon, and the other between Kanta and Kuncoro, with the missing Kento, in all likelihood, watching the action at TV in Tokyo! How the Japanese men's team coach handles his three key quarters is an issue that, as Bertie Wooster would have noticed at the always reliable Jeeves, exceeds the spirit!
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