Two teenagers tipped to break the Chinese stranglehold on badminton will do battle in an eagerly anticipated women’s singles semi-final showdown at the world championships in Guangzhou on Saturday.
Also in action are Chinese Olympic champion Lin Dan and world number one Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, on course for a mouthwatering clash in Sunday’s final in southern China.
Indian 18-year-old P.V. Sindhu has set tongues wagging after dispatching defending champion Wang Yihan of China in the third round then seeing off Chinese seventh seed Wang Shixian in the quarter-finals.
Sindhu will face Thai talent Ratchanok Intanon, also 18, who has already sealed a reputation as one of the game’s up and coming stellar talents. She took the Thailand Open this year and is the only person to have won three junior world championship titles in a row.
They are not afraid to take on the sport’s established names with an injection of pace and an ambitious shot repertoire — including the jumping overhead smashes that are a signature of the men’s singles game.
“Playing with senior players I get lots of experience and if I lose, I just learn,” said Sindhu, who is also studying for a degree in business and economics. “There’s no pressure for me — I can just be free.”
Ratchanok told AFP that age is not important — it’s hard work that really makes the difference.
“Even though I am young in terms of age, I don’t feel like a young player,” she said. “It’s not about how old you are, it’s about who trains the hardest.”
Whoever wins Saturday’s semi-final is likely to meet Olympic champion and top seed Li Xuerui of China, who will play South Korean Bae Yeon-Ju in her semi.
If one of the teens takes the world title, it will be the first time a non-Chinese player has won women’s singles gold since 1999, when Denmark’s Camilla Martin won.
Li, who is herself only 22, supports the emergence of the new wave of players snapping at her heels.
“This phenomenon is very beneficial for women’s singles. I just hope that there are going to be more young players from China who are rising up,” she said.
China’s men’s singles legend Lin Dan has called for badminton to generate more superstars if it wants to garner a wider appeal — and it may well be the women’s game that produces them.
“These youngsters are going to take women’s singles to a new level,” former European doubles champion and television commentator Gill Clark told AFP.
“They have the skills and the shot variation. Consistency used to win in the women’s game, but it won’t win now.
“When you watch the top men players you can’t tell which way the shuttle’s going to come, and it’s exciting. Now it’s the same thing for the women.”
Lin takes on Vietnam’s Nguyen Tien Minh in his semi-final while arch-rival Lee faces China’s Du Pengyu.
Teen stars clash in women's world badminton semis
