Tokyo: In what was a great day so far for India at Tokyo Olympics, reigning world champion PV Sindhu advanced to the women’s singles quarterfinals with a straight-game victory over Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt on Thursday.
The 26-year-old Indian shutter defeated 13th seed Blichfeldt 21-15, 21-13 in a 41-minute match. She will next face Japanese Akane Yamaguchi for a place in the semifinals. “I started off well in the first game but around 15-16, I gave a couple of points because I was rushing in my defense,” Sindhu told media after the match.
“My coach was telling me that I was playing the wrong way and I realized that and I immediately changed my tactics and completed the first game. In the second game, I was fine, I was maintaining the lead and finished it off,” she added.
What. A. Commanding. Performance. 👏
Here's the winning point from the Round of 16 clash between #IND's PV Sindhu and #DEN's Mia Blichfeldt.#Olympics | #Tokyo2020 | #StrongerTogether | #UnitedByEmotion | #BestOfTokyo | #Badminton | @Pvsindhu pic.twitter.com/yuWylT4ihs
— #Tokyo2020 for India (@Tokyo2020hi) July 29, 2021
Sindhu mixed her strokes well, utilizing her attacking clears and drops as well as smashing her way to finish points whenever possible. On the other hand, Blichfeldt was too irregular to keep the pressure on her Indian opponent. The Dane rose to occasional brilliance but that was too less effective to deter Sindhu.
Earlier, Sindhu topped Group J winning both her matches. The 2016 Rio Olympics silver medallist is the lone Indian hope in badminton at Tokyo Olympics after B Sai Praneeth’s Olympic debut in the men’s singles ended in tragedy. He was defeated in straight games by Mark Caljouw of the Netherlands on Wednesday – his second defeat in Group D.
