Seoul: The Indian badminton player PV Sindhu entered the final of the Korean Open Super Series on Saturday with a 21-10, 17-21, 21-16 win over China’s Bingjiao.
The eighth seeded Indian will face Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara, who defeated Sindhu in the BWF World Badminton Championships final last month. The Okuhara beat Akane Yamaguchi 21-17, 21-18 in the semi-finals in the final match.
In the quarterfinals, Sindhu entered Japan in the semi-finals by defeating Minatsu Mitani of Japan 21-19, 16-21, 21-10 in the quarterfinals. On the other hand, China’s Bingjiao defeated South Korean third seed Sung Ji Hyun 21-19, 16-21, 21-19 in the quarterfinals
Prior to the match, the head-to-head record against Bingjiao was 3-5, but Indians initially started playing against their Chinese opponent. The Bingjiao played a series of bad shots to help Sindhu claim the first game 21-10.
In the second game, Sindhu saw a 3 point cushion on Bingjiao. The Indian game defeated 11-6 and went out of the game in the middle, but despite the Chinese struggle, they bravely fought to make a score of 15-15 despite finding their feet in the match and in the end 21-17 after the slip from Sindhu.
The third and deciding game was a tightly fought case between the two. Sindhu took the lead 5-3, while her opponent kept the deficit in only one point and kept her way back into the game. After the 11-9 span of Bingjiao, Sindhu extended to three points on its side.
The Indian had put pressure on her opponent and did not allow her to return to the second game, and in the end, she won the game and entered the final from 21-16.
On Sunday, in the finals, Hyderabad shuttler Sindhu will face once again against the Nozomi Okuhara of Japan.
Korean Open: Sindhu beat Bingjiao in semi-finals, face Nozomi Okuhara in final
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