India's top-ranked Women's singles shuttlers PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal are both in the quarter-final of 2017 Badminton World Championships in Glasgow.
India's star performers will look to continue the winning run. Watch them in action LIVE on Star Sports. #2017BWC pic.twitter.com/H8M8JQ4MxI
— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) August 25, 2017
Saina created history on Thursday, August 24, when she became the first women's singles shuttler to make it to seven consecutive world meet quarter-finals. The 12th-seeded shuttler was in sublime form as she ousted second seed Sung Ji Hyun 21-19, 21-15 in just 49 minutes.
Saina, who had been struggling to regain her best form after suffering a knee injury in the Rio Olympics last year, played some of the best badminton of her season against familiar foe Sung on Thursday. The world number 16 had a solid defence and used deception to good effect, taking her head-to-head tally with the South Korean to 8-2.
Head-to-head: Saina vs Gilmour
On Friday, Saina faces local hope Kristy Gilmour for a spot in the semi-final. The 2015-edition silver-medallist has beaten the world number 31 in all four previous meetings, with the most recent win coming at the 2014 French Open.
Saina's domination has been such that she has not even conceded a game against Gilmour so far. The win against Sun should have given the Indian shuttler the much-needed confidence to resume dominating the rest of the pack.
Also read: Kidambi Srikanth vs Son Wan Ho quarter-final live streaming, start time
Gilmour has been in good form lately, and registered one of the biggest wins of her career in the R16 match on Thursday against world number seven He Bing Jiao of China.
In a match that extended to one hour and 12 minutes, Gilmour emerged victorious 21-14, 15-21, 21-16. She had opened the tournament on a high, beating India's Rituparna Das 21-16, 21-13.
However, on Friday, she needs to be at her best to stand a chance of even testing Saina, who is looking good for a podium finish.
Sindhu's tough test
On the other hand, fourth seed PV Sindhu squares off against fifth seed Sun Yu, against whom she has a 3-4 head-to-head record, in her quarter-final outing later on Friday.
Notably, Sindhu and Sun played the final of 2016 China Superseries Premier, which the Indian won in three games — 21-11, 17-21, 21-11. The Chinese shuttler though gave it back in the World Superseries Finals in Dubai, beating the Indian in straight games — 15-21, 17-21.
In 2017 though, Sindhu, the winner of Syed Modi GPG and India Open, has been more successful than Sun, who has struggled to even reach the final stages of top tournaments.
Sindhu has proved in the past that she is a big-match player and needs to wear that hat once more as she prepares for a tricky quarter-final encounter against Sun. Can the two-time World Championships bronze-medallist assure herself another medal?
Start times of Sindhu, Saina matches
Sindhu vs Sun -- 1pm local/5:30pm IST*
Saina vs Gilmour -- 6pm local/10:30pm IST*
Live streaming and TV Coverage
Global Live streaming will be available on BWF's official YouTube channel
India: TV: Star Sports 1/1 HD. Live streaming: Hotstar
UK: TV: BBC. Live streaming: BBC Sport
Malaysia: TV: Astro Supersport. Live streaming: Astro Go
China: TV: LETV, CCTV 5+
Singapore: TV: StarHub. Live streaming: StarHub Go
Live scores can be followed here.
