Hyderabad: One of the medal hopes at the Tokyo Olympics, star Indian shuttler PV Sindhu admitted she has to be on top of her toes despite being drawn in a relatively easy Group J. The 2016 Olympic silver medallist stated no game is easy at the Olympic level.
Reigning world champion Sindhu has been drawn with Hong Kong’s Cheung Ngan Yi (ranked 34th) and Israel’s Ksenia Polikarpova (ranked 58th) in Group J of the women’s singles event. “It’s a good draw in the group stage. Hong Kong girl plays well and it’s going to be a good match,” World No. 7 Sindhu said.
“Everybody is going to be in top form, I hope I do well. Every match is important so I will take match by match. This is Olympics and it is not going to be easy, each point is very important,” said the sixth seed.
Sindhu has an all-win record against Ngan Yi and Polikarpova in the five and two encounters respectively. Meanwhile, World No. 15 B Sai Praneeth has been placed in Group D alongside World No. 29 Ducth Mark Caljouw and World No. 47 Israeli shuttler Misha Zilberman in the men’s singles.
“It’s a mixed draw, not so tough and not so good. I have to be 100 per cent to win all matches and it will be a good match for me,” World Championships bronze medallist Praneeth said. However, a tough task awaits World no.10 men’s doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy.
The duo has been placed in Group A alongside top-seed and World No. 1 Indonesian duo of Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo and Marcus Fernaldi Gideon, who also finished at the top in the Race to Tokyo standing, and World No. 3 Chinese Taipei pair of Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin. England’s Ben Lane and Sean Vendy are the fourth pair placed in Group A.
