World Badminton Championships 2018: PV Sindhu knocks out Akane Yamaguchi to earn summit meeting with Carolina Marin

Hard on the heels of her silver medal winning exploits in both the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2017 World Championships, India’s Pusarla Venkata Sindhu had been firmly installed as a world champion-in-waiting.

In Saturday’s semi-finals of the 2018 World Championships in Nanjing, the 23-year-old from Hyderabad put two-time former world champion and 2016 Olympic gold medallist, Carolina Marin of Spain, on notice that she will not allow the Spanish left-hander to dictate terms in the summit clash on the morrow.

With a heartwarming display of grit, determination, skill and gumption, Sindhu used her superior power to haul herself back from a potentially game-losing 12-19 deficit in the second stanza of her semi-final against the No 2 seed, Akane Yamaguchi, to pip the Japanese at the tape by a 21-16, 24-22 scoreline in a fascinating 55-minute duel of wits.

The Indian played an exceptionally mature game against the Japanese 21-year-old, who was hell-bent on prolonging the rallies and letting her own superior staying power weigh in the balance. Sindhu had the speed and reach to counter all of these games of attrition, in much the same manner as she had dealt with Yamaguchi’s compatriot, defending champion Nozomi Okuhara, on Friday.

In accordance with a plan obviously drafted by coach Pullela Gopichand, who kept encouraging her from his courtside chair, Sindhu played much more at the net, to draw her antagonist forward, and then kept pushing her back with deep crosscourt flick clears. Yamaguchi had to cover a vast acreage in her bid to be in good enough positions to control the rally.

But for an initial spell of nervousness, when she trailed 0-5 in the opening game, and a brief erratic patch in the second, when she allowed the Japanese to move from 14-11 to 19-12, Sindhu appeared much in control of the proceedings. In addition, it must be mentioned that her body language throughout the match, even when she trailed by that huge margin in the second stanza, was positive. The usual frown of a mixture of irritation and worry stayed away from her brow throughout the semi-final tussle.

The intense pressure of playing a World Championship semi-final eventually told on even a player who is considered unflappable. While serving at 21-20, game-point, in the second game, Yamaguchi foozled the flick backhand serve to such an extent that it landed on the wrong court, nearly four feet away from the centre line. Former national champion and chief coach of the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, Vimal Kumar, pointed out that in over three decades of following international badminton, he had never seen such a spectacle! He also recalled the amazing coincidence that Sindhu had won her Junior World Championship gold medal by beating Yamaguchi in 2012 after recovering from an identical 12-19 position in the deciding game.

With Saturday’s triumph, Sindhu enlarged her lead in head-to-head career meetings with Yamaguchi to 7-4, with a piquant record of alternate wins and losses in their most recent five encounters since December 2017. The Sindhu-Yamaguchi record had much in common with the alternate win-loss statistics of the last six duels with her quarter-final victim, and 2017 world champion, Okuhara, also of Japan.

Sindhu has a score to settle with Marin, who ranted and screamed her way into the gold medal round with a hard-earned triumph against He Bingjiao by a 13-21, 21-16, 21-13 margin.

Sindhu and Marin are intriguingly tied at 6-all in their head-to-heads, but the record shows that the Indian has won three of their last four meetings, including a 22-20, 21-19 result at the Malaysia Open in June this year. The Indian will has the chance to get back at the Spanish southpaw for her heart-wrenching 21-19, 12-21,15-21 loss in the 2016 Rio Olympics final on Sunday.

On paper, Marin appears to have a clear edge, in the wake of the manner in which she has played her five matches thus far in Nanjing. She has declared herself to be the speediest player in the world today; and that footspeed, allied to her constant aggression, has proved to be a handful for all her opponents thus far.

It is quite amazing to witness the steep upward curve in Marin’s court movements in barely a month since her defeat at Sindhu’s hands in the Malaysia Open on 29 June. Keen followers of the game would find it hard to believe that such drastic improvement in footspeed could be achieved in such a short period of time, no matter how intensive the training.

Sindhu would have to rely on her own strengths and cover up her own weaknesses, if she is to grab the most coveted prize in the sport. The Indian would need to smother the Spaniard in the speed department, since matching Marin’s pace is bound to prove difficult.

A game of patience, similar to that she employed against Okuhara and Yamaguchi, might work to her advantage. Marin is what badminton players call “hyper”, and is prone to conceding a string of negative points when placed under pressure. It will be up to Sindhu to exert that pressure, and force the Spaniard to settle for the silver on this momentous occasion.