Despite the withdrawal of Indian Badminton star PV Sindhu, the Indian Badminton squad continued their brilliant performance in their quest for the BWF title. Saina Nehwal dominated the first round matchup against Chuang Ngan Yi of Hongkong 21-19, 21-9 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Stadium, last Tuesday. The 32 years old veteran ousted her opponent without giving her opponent a chance for deciding set despite having a slow start. For more sports badminton related, click here!
The matchup ended in 38 minutes, with 20 minutes from it coming on the first set, and the latter was on the second set after the series of unforced errors by Chuang Ngan Yi that contributed to send the Indian Olympic medalist into Round of 32 clash against Nozomi Okuhara.
Nehwal’s round of 32 clash against the World No. 6 Nozomi Okuhara was canceled due to Japanese shuttler’s injury – with this withdrawal, Nehwal will advance to the third round after getting a bye. On the other hand, Busana Ongbamrungphan of Thailand defeated the 12th seed Yvonne Li of Germany in 3 sets 22-20, 16-21, 20-22 and set to face the Indian veteran Saina Nehwal in pre-quarterfinal (Third round) matchup.
Nehwal vs Ongbumrungpan
Heading into this matchup, Nehwal has the upper hand in terms of credentials and experience – she was the bronze medalist in the 2012 olympic, the first Indian badminton player to win a medal. She also won 24 international titles including the ten Superseries title, clinching the rank 2 in 2009 and later on the World’s number 1 in 2015. While Ongbamrungphan, the 26 year old Thai player decorated impressive medals including four golds in SEA Games, bronze in 2014 Youth Olympic games in Women’s Singles event and another bronze in 2013 BWF World Junior Championship, and 3 titles in BWF World Tour.
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Surely, this matchup will be an exciting and a must-to-watch for all Indian and Thailand badminton fans. The clash between the veteran and the youngster will create a huge impact on the title run for booth countries. India’s Saina Nehwal is still the brightest player in this Indian Squad for this edition of BWF World Championship as she will be the light of the team and the guidance for their young guns including the 21 year old Lakshya Sen. Though, Nehwal is the only player left on Girl’s single match as her fellow M. Bansod was ousted by Danish Christophersen 21-14, 21-12. While in Thailand, Ongbamrungphan joined her fellow countrymen to qualify for the third round in Ratchanok Intanon facing Michelle Li of Canada and Pornpawee Chochuwong facing Chen Yufei of China.
The odds for the Indian national on Women’s singles is like a hole of a needle. Surely, Nehwal has the odds favoring her to beat Ongbumrungpan. The problem is there will be a possible clash with World No. 2 Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taipei who holds the record of being the longest World no.1 ranking for 213 weeks. So, if Nehwal oust the Thai shuttler, she will possibly have a next showdown with Taiwanese powerhouse that previously won the silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic in Women’s Single event.
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