Pusarla V. Sindhu reacts after her win against Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi during their women’s singles badminton quarterfinal match at the 2020 Summer Olympics on Friday.
Tokyo, July 30: Reigning world champion P. V. Sindhu kept alive India’s hopes of a first-ever Olympic gold in badminton by reaching the semifinals of the women’s singles with a straightgame win over World No.5 Japanese Akane Yamaguchi here on Friday.
Sindhu defended brilliantly and rode on her attacking allround game to outclass the fourth seeded Yamaguchi 21-13, 22-20 in a 56-minute quarterfinal clash at the Musashino Forest Plaza here.
She will next face the winner of the other quarterfinal between Thailand’s Ratchanok Inthanon and Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying.
The sixth seeded Indian came into the match with a 11-7 head-to-head count against the Japanese, whom she had last beaten at the All England Championship in March this year.
Yamaguchi tried to play an aggressive game but Sindhu held her ground and used her good anticipation and reach to stay ahead. The Indian brought out her attacking smashes and half smashes whenever there was a chance to put pressure on her rival.
The opening game saw Sindhu quickly erase a 2-4 deficit to level the scores at 6-6. Yamaguchi committed
three back-to-back unforced errors to allow the Indian to move ahead as Sindhu entered the interval at 11-7 with a cross court smash.
Sindhu used her fore court well and took charge of the net. The duo played some good rallies at a good pace but Yamaguchi couldn’t find an answer in the exchanges.
Sindhu eventually produced a winner near the
net and grabbed the first game when Yamaguchi sent long a return to serve.
Sindhu dictated the pace and seemed in total control, starting the second game with two superb smashes for a 2-0 early lead. She kept her unforced errors to the bare minimum even as Yamaguchi committed a service error and playing against the drift, struggled
to keep the shuttle in.
A superb net dribble and a cross court smash helped Sindhu to again take a five-point advantage at the break.
She is the lone Indian in fray in badminton after men’s singles player B. Sai Praneeth and the men’s doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy failed to qualify for the knockout stage.
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