Saina Nehwal ends campaign with bronze after losing world championships semis

New Delhi: Saina Nehwal has gone down in the semi-final of the world badminton championships after losing a hard-fought match in three games in Glasgow, Scotland on Saturday. The twelfth seed Indian lost the first semi-final of the women’s singles to seventh seed Japanese player Nozomi Okuhara 21-12, 17-21, 10-21.

It is nevertheless a fine campaign for the Indian ace who has been out of action more often than not over the past one year due to injury and surgery.

Saina ends her campaign in Glasgow with a bronze medal as both losing semi-finalists get the third best medal as per the rules in the tournament.

This is still one of the three biggest achievements of her career along with the world championships silver in 2015 and the bronze at the 2012 London Olympics.

Indian fans have more action to look forward to in the tournament. In the second semi-final of the women’s singles, fourth seed PV Sindhu will battle ninth seed Chen Yufei of China.

It also means that Sindhu is now the highest seed left in the tournament among the three players still alive for a shot at the gold medal. Her match is tentatively scheduled to begin at 12.30 am on Sunday morning.