India’s Sindhu says she could have done better against Akane

dubai — After fighting hard to come on the right side of the result in her first game in the Dubai BWF World Superseries Finals at the Hamdan Sports Complex on Wednesday, India’s PV Sindhu said that she was glad to come away with a victory.

The Rio Olympics silver medallist rallied from a game down to defeat Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in her Group B opener.

Sindhu made a slew of errors in the first game after Yamaguchi targeted her backhand repeatedly. But then, a pep talk from coach Pullela Gopichand after the first game turned things around for Sindhu.

“I’m happy that I won my first round because after the first game I was a bit nervous,” Sindhu said after her match.

“In the first game, I gave her a huge lead and then by the time I recovered, she finished the game. But then, in the second game, I was very alert from the start and I was maintaining that lead. In the second game, it was going equally until 11 points before I took a huge lead and finished it. And also, in the third game, there were long rallies and she was also not leaving the shuttle. Overall, it was a good match and of course first time, so, I’m really very happy. But I could have played much better,” she added.

The Hyderabadi revealed that impatience was what cost her the first game.“In the first game, there were a lot of negatives and I wasn’t really patient but then I came back and then finished it off,” said the 21-year-old.

“Overall, my strokes were going mid-court and that is why she was able to hit it. So, he (Gopichand) told me to be very alert and be steady on court,” she added.

Olympic champion Carolina Marin’s defeat has opened things up in the group but Sindhu isn’t taking anything for granted.

“It is still too early to say because it is very complicated because you still have two more matches to go and anything can happen,” she said.

Next up, Sindhu takes on Sun Yu, who had defeated Marin. And Sindhu said that since both know each other’s game, strategy will come into play.

“I will be playing against Sun Yu. I recently played her in the China Open so it is not going to be an easy match. I will have to give my best. We know each other’s game so it is just that on that day who works out the strategy and lays it out on court and who changes accordingly is the winner,” Sindhu said.

james@khaleejtimes.com