PV Sindhu’s Olympic silver marks a glorious year for badminton
It turned out to be a watershed year for Sindhu, who reached the upper echelons of world badminton.
India’s celebrated shuttler PV Sindhu defeated local girl Ngan Yi Cheung to storm into the final of the Hong Kong Open tournament on Saturday.
In a match which lasted for 46 minutes, the Olympic silver medalist outplayed Cheung 21-14, 21-16 at Coliseum-1.
Earlier in men’s singles, Sameer Verma edged past Denmark’s Jan O Jorgensen to reach the final.
The Hyderabadi shuttler defeated third seeded Jorgensen 21-19, 24-22 in a contest which lasted around 45 minutes to enter his first Superseries final.
Verma started off on a good note by taking a 8-1 lead in the initial stages of the first game.
Jorgensen soon found his rhythm and started counter-attacking, taking five straight points to reach 6-8. The Danish shuttler dominated proceedings after the mid-game break, but Verma matched the pace of his opponent to take one point lead at 14-13.
Both players fought hard in the closing stages of the first game but it was Verma who managed to prevail and take the lead.
The second game saw Jorgensen outplaying Verma right from the start. He dominated the Indian shuttler with some swift court movements and excellent net play.
But after the mid-game break, the 23-year-old Indian shuttler bounced back in style to level the scores at 12-12.
It was neck and neck till 17-18 with the Denmark player leading, but in the last three points, Verma managed to hold his nerve and clinched the game and the match.
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