Thursday began with Ankita Raina trying to improve on her medal prospects. The 25-year-old was assured of a bronze medal in the women's singles category. She wanted to at least match the silver medal that Sania Mirza had won at Doha in 2006.
It wasn't meant to be as Raina lost to world number 34 Shuai Zhang of China in the semi-finals.
The Indian who is ranked 189th did not meekly submit though to her higher ranked opponent. The final result- 4-6, 6-7 reflected the closeness of the match. India's best woman tennis player marches on to establish her credentials as a competitor on the women's circuit.
PV Sindhu who is India's best badminton player was expected to breeze through her first-round match against 52th ranked Vu Thi Trang from Vietnam.
She started in a dominant fashion winning the first game 21-10. But the match took an unexpected turn with Vu winning the second game 12-21. Ultimately, Sindhu dragged deep in her arsenal to win the third game 23-21. While Vu was fluid in her play, Sindhu seemed to play within herself as if to reserve energy for tougher matches ahead. She didn't get to do that but she won anyway.
Prajnesh reaches semi-final, assured of at least a bronze
Prajnesh Gunneswaran won against higher ranked Kwon Soonwoo of South Korea in the quarter finals of the men's singles category. The 20- year-old Korean had reached the second round of the Australian Open. Yet it was the 28-year-old Indian who lost six match points before winning the tie- breaker in the third set.
In the midst of the tie-break there was rain to contend with which delayed the match for an hour. Both the players were struggling with cramps before the rain, Kwon more so. Prajnesh deserved his semi-final spot. One doesn't think that having fought to get the bronze he would stop there. The result is more remarkable considering that Ramkumar Ramanathan was expected to be the medal winner in the men's group. Instead he lost in the round of 16 to Karimov Jurabek of Uzbekistan.
Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan advanced to the men's doubles final having gotten the better of Japanese duo of KaitoUesugi and Sho Shimabukuro4-6, 6-3, 10-8. The energy and strength of the 38 and 32 years old summed up the grit and quality exhibited by all the Indian racked sportsmen and sportswomen today.
