Sindhu enters BAC semifinals, assured of a medal

The fourth-seeded Sindhu, who had claimed a bronze in the 2014 Gimcheon edition, got the better of the fifth seeded Chinese 21-9 13-21 21-19 in a quarterfinal match that lasted an hour and 16 minutes.

Manila (Philippines): Double Olympic medallist P V Sindhu eked out a thrilling win over China's He Bing Jiao to make it to the women's singles semifinals of the Badminton Asia Championships here on Friday. With this win, Sindhu assured herself of a medal in the continental championships, which is making a return after a gap of two years due to COVID-19 pandemic.

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The fourth-seeded Sindhu, who had claimed a bronze in the 2014 Gimcheon edition, got the better of the fifth seeded Chinese 21-9 13-21 21-19 in a quarterfinal match that lasted an hour and 16 minutes. World number 7 Sindhu came into the match with a 7-9 head-to-head record against Bing Jiao, whom she has beaten twice in the last two meetings.

Sindhu galloped to 11-2 lead in no time and then kept things under her firm grip to take a 1-0 lead in the match. Bing Jiao came back strongly after the change of sides, moving to 6-4 lead before managing a slender 11-10 advantage. After the break, the Chinese reeled off five points on the trot to grab a 19-12 lead to eventually roar back into the contest.

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In the decider, it was 2-2 early on but Sindhu unleashed her cross-court smashes to gather points, moving to a massive 11-5 lead going into the final change of ends. Bing Jiao, however, scripted a recovery after the interval to narrow down the deficit to 15-16 as Sindhu let the momentum slip despite being 15-9 up at one stage.

It was 18-16 next with Sindhu's slice going to the net. The Indian then unleashed a body smash before grabbing four match points with Bing Jiao erring on the backcourt. The Chinese saved three match points before Sindhu prevailed.

PTI