Tokyo: PV Sindhu continued her golden run as she stormed into the pre-quarterfinals with a 21-9, 21-16 win over Hong Kong’s Cheung Ngan Yi during in her last group stage encounter at the Tokyo Olympics women’s singles event on Wednesday.
With two wins in the group, Sindhu enters the next round as group topper and the 2016 Rio Olympics bronze medallist will next face Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt who topped Group I. Sindhu has been in good form so far at the Tokyo Olympics and on Wednesday was no different as she raced to a 12-point lead in the first game against her Hong Kong rival.
A win in the first game was just a matter of time for Sindhu but she has to fight hard in the second. Ngan Yi played some of the best badminton of her career when she was going neck-to-neck at 10-10 at the halfway stage in the second game.
𝐘𝐀𝐘𝐘 🥳
Rio #Olympics 🥈medalist @Pvsindhu1 defeats 🇭🇰's Cheung NY 21-9, 21-16 in her last group stage outing and with that win she advances to Round of 16 of @tokyo2020 💪🏻#SmashfortheGlory#badminton#Tokyo2020#Cheer4India#TeamIndia #PVSindhu pic.twitter.com/Q7TKTTG6Qu
— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) July 28, 2021
At some point, it seemed the match would go on to a decider but Sindhu’s experience and great composure ensured her way into the knockouts. If everything goes well for Sindhu against the Dane, the Indian could land up against Japanese Akane Yamaguchi in the quarterfinals.
With no Carolina Marin this time, Sindhu could not afford to lose the gold medal this time. It was against Marin, that Sindhu lost to in the 2016 Rio Olympics final, and she would be more than eager to change the colour of the medal in Tokyo.
In the men’s singles, India’s B Sai Praneeth’s hopes are all but over despite having a game at hand. Sai Praneeth has lost to Israel’ Misha Zilberman in his opener and if needs to enter the next round, he has to beat Dutch Mark Caljouw by a heavy margin.
On the other hand, the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Ranikreddy and Chirag Shetty bowed out despite winning their final group game 21-17,21-19 against the British pair of Ben Lane and Sean Vendy.
