Buzz about Sidhu Moosewala’s father contesting from Bathinda as Independent candidate
Seoul, PV Sindhu progressed to the semifinals but it was curtains for Sameer Verma at the $600,000 Korea Open Super Series badminton tournament.
Sindhu, who won the silver medal at the World Championships last month, recovered from a mid-game slump to stave off the challenge from world No. 19 Minatsu Mitani of Japan, winning 21-19 16-21 21-10 in a match that lasted 63 minutes.
The fifth-seeded Indian, who had a 1-1 head-to-head record against Mitani, will next face either third seed Sung Ji Hyun or China’s He Bingjiao, seeded sixth, at the SK Handball Stadium.
In March this year, Verma had defeated Son Wan in the opening round at the India Super Series but since then the South Korean has climbed to the top of world rankings. Verma tried his best to get the better of the Korean but the top seed dished out a gritty performance to beat Verma 20-22 21-10 21-13 in an hour and nine minutes.
In the women’s singles, Sindhu eked out a 6-2 lead early in the opening game but Mitani managed to claw back, leading 11-9 at the break. After a close battle till 16-16, Sindhu jumped to 19-16. Mitani then erased the deficit but Sindhu ensured she had the bragging rights after the first game, sealing it quickly.
In the second game, Mitani opened up an 8-4 lead but Sindhu overtook her soon to lead 12-9.
The Japanese once again clawed back at 13-13 and then moved away from the Indian to roar back into the contest, taking the game 21-16. In the decider, Sindhu did not give any chance to Mitani after zooming to a 9-2 lead. She was 11-6 at the break, which she extended to 19-9 before sealing a win.
