HYDERABAD: It looks like God is on the side of Saina Nehwal and is clearing the path for the Indian badminton ace's rise to No. 1 in world rankings.
While Saina Nehwal is doing her bit to achieve the distinction by progressing up the bottom half of the singles draw at the World Championships in Paris, her task was made easier on Thursday by the early exit of the current world number one and top seed China's Wang Yihan.
With Yihan becoming a third round victim to Eriko Hirose of Japan, not only the biggest hurdle is out of Saina's path but the equation now got simplified to just two players: Saina and the third ranked Wang Xin.
At the moment Saina is 56183.3531 points behind Yihan and she can wipe out that deficit with a semifinal appearance that would fetch her 6,600 points.
But she would then come face to face with Wang Xin, the only player who appears to have the chance to prove Saina's nemesis, presuming that the Chinese would come through her quarter of the draw unscathed.
Wang is already breathing down Saina's neck, with just about 3,500 points separating the two. And should she manage to beat the Indian in the semifinals, she would also win the race for the No. 1 ranking.
Before that, however, Saina is likely to come up against another Chinese wall, Wang Shixian, in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Ranked sixth at the start of the tournament, the Chinese moved to fourth rank on Thursday and is expected to come through her third round match against Yao Jie of the Netherlands.
Notwithstanding the two Chinese thorns strewn in her path, Saina is expected to sail past them. And given the manner of her victory over Russia's Ella Diehl in the third round on Thursday, the scales look tilted fully in her favour. Saina took just 40 minutes to oust Ella and extend her domination over the Russian to 5-0.
TOI
While Saina Nehwal is doing her bit to achieve the distinction by progressing up the bottom half of the singles draw at the World Championships in Paris, her task was made easier on Thursday by the early exit of the current world number one and top seed China's Wang Yihan.
With Yihan becoming a third round victim to Eriko Hirose of Japan, not only the biggest hurdle is out of Saina's path but the equation now got simplified to just two players: Saina and the third ranked Wang Xin.
At the moment Saina is 56183.3531 points behind Yihan and she can wipe out that deficit with a semifinal appearance that would fetch her 6,600 points.
But she would then come face to face with Wang Xin, the only player who appears to have the chance to prove Saina's nemesis, presuming that the Chinese would come through her quarter of the draw unscathed.
Wang is already breathing down Saina's neck, with just about 3,500 points separating the two. And should she manage to beat the Indian in the semifinals, she would also win the race for the No. 1 ranking.
Before that, however, Saina is likely to come up against another Chinese wall, Wang Shixian, in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Ranked sixth at the start of the tournament, the Chinese moved to fourth rank on Thursday and is expected to come through her third round match against Yao Jie of the Netherlands.
Notwithstanding the two Chinese thorns strewn in her path, Saina is expected to sail past them. And given the manner of her victory over Russia's Ella Diehl in the third round on Thursday, the scales look tilted fully in her favour. Saina took just 40 minutes to oust Ella and extend her domination over the Russian to 5-0.
TOI
