Both P.V. Sindhu and B. Sai Praneeth will be eyeing a spot in the finals of the Badminton World Federation World Championships in Basel, Switzerland, as they prepare for their respective semifinal matches on Saturday.
Sindhu will be playing the women's semifinal against Chen Yufei of China. While Chen is seeded fourth at the BWF World Championships compared with Sindhu being fifth, the Indian has come out better in head-to-head contests. Sindhu holds a 5-3 win record against Chen in singles matches. Sindhu had defeated Chen in the semifinal of the 2017 BWF World Championships.
However, Chen has the advantage in terms of form, having a 39-5 record in 2019. This year, Chen has, so far, won the All England Championship, Swiss Open, Indonesian Open and Australian Open.
Sindhu will be hoping for an elusive gold medal in this year's edition of the BWF World Championships, having won silver medals in the last two editions.
The match between P.V. Sindhu and Chen Yufei is scheduled to start at 2.30pm (IST) on Saturday.
B. Sai Praneeth has had an excellent time at the BWF World Championships. Praneeth has already achieved history by being the first Indian male player to be assured of a medal at the World Championships in 36 years. Prakash Padukone won a bronze medal at the World Championships in 1983.
However, Sai Praneeth, ranked no 19, faces an uphill task in the semifinal as he faces world number 1 Kento Momota of Japan. Momota has a 34-5 win record this year. He has won the All England Open, German Open, Asian Championships, Japan Open and Singapore Open this year.
Momota leads Sai Praneeth 3-2 in head-to-head matches. Sai Praneeth had won their first two matches, but Momota has been dominant since.
The match between Sai Praneeth and Kento Momota is expected to begin around 4pm.
