India’s rising shuttler P V Sindhu on
Saturday settled for a bronze medal at the
World Championships after suffering a
straight-game defeat against world number
three Ratchanok Inthanon in the semifinals
of the prestigious event.
World number 12 Sindhu, playing in her
maiden World Championships, had notched
up stunning victories against two Chinese
players in the run-up to the semifinals but
she failed to out it cross Ratchanok, going
down 10-21 13-21 in a 36-minute women’s
singles match.
Ratchanok mixed her strokes well and
moved smoothly across the court. Sindhu,
on the other hand, committed too many
unforced errors allowing her opponent to
move into the interval at 11-4 in the
opening game.
Ratchanok used her deceptive shots to
flummox Sindhu, who struggled in
anticipation. The Indian failed to gauge the
Thai girl’s game and also ended up hitting
the shuttle wide and out to allow Ratchanok
to move to 19-10.
Ratchanok then moved to a 10-point lead
with a straight baseline smash and with
Sindhu hitting out again, the Thai had the
upper-hand after the opening game.
Sindhu struggled with her strokes in the
second game too as her returns were buried
into the net and she also made some
judgemental errors as Ratchanok opened up
a 8-1 lead early on.
A few points at the net saw Sindhu make it
5-10 but another unforced error by the
Indian took Ratchanok to 11-5 at the break.
Ratchanok was accurate and played some
sensational strokes to leave Sindhu without
any answer. Sindhu tried to match
Ratchanok in the rallies but the Thai girl
was always a step ahead with her wide
array of strokes.
Leading 19-12, Ratchanok earned eight
match points when Sindhu’s shuttle went
out again. Sindhu saved one match point
with a smash but Ratchanok soon grabbed
the last point with a jump smash which
caught Sindhu off-guard.
Ratchanok, 18, is the first shuttler from her
country to be assured of a silver at the
World Championship.
The Thailand girl won the India Open in
New Delhi and also the Thailand Open
Grand Prix Gold this year. She is also a
three-time world junior championship gold-
medallist. She is also a silver-medallist
from the 2010 Asian Games here.
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