The parents of shuttler PV Sindhu on Wednesday expressed delight after their daughter kept India’s medal hopes alive by reaching the semifinals of the women’s singles event at the Rio Olympics, which is being held in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro.
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“It could have been anybody’s game”.
Sindhu got huge support from the audiences as her every point was cheered by the Indian fans in the stadium.
After that Wang took the lead for the first time in the 19-18 and it looked like the match was heading into a third game. This was one of my memorable wins against Yihan. Sindhu is now just one win away from an assured medal. It was relatively a smooth affair for Sindhu as the former World Champion committed many unforced errors.
The scorecard read 22-20, 21-19, in what was a stunning match that lasted 55 minutes. Sindhu will play either Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara or Akane Yamaguchi in the semi-finals on Thursday. Hardeep still has a chance in the repechage if Cenk makes it to the Final. In September that year, Sindhu broke into the Badminton World Federation’s top 20 rankings, defeating London Olympics gold medallist Li Xuerui in the quarter-finals of the China Masters. “This one was one of the best and I hope it will happen in the next game”, said the double World Championship bronze medallist. “She played well in both games, especially the second to tie the scores at 18-18”, she said. “Even though I was leading she came back”.
The Indian started on a wrong note as she lost her very first service and allowed Wang to race to a 3-0 lead but after that the Indian came back strongly and service changed hands at a furious pace. “She played really well and was all fired up”. All three past meetings have gone in favour of the Japanese, but Sindhu has a habit of bringing out her best game at crucial stages of big tournaments. Even she would not have left any shuttle, and she did not leave any shuttle.
“If there was a turning point, it was that I was really patient”.
Chief national coach and Sindhu’s childhood idol Pullela Gopichand heaped praise on the star shuttler.
“It was really a good match, a spirited performance from the beginning”.
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Wang, who had taken silver at the 2012 London Olympics, was expected to be the stronger of the two in Tuesday’s encounter, but it was Sindhu who dominated most of the exchanges. A fightback from Yihan ensued but Sindhu stayed calm to enter the break 11-8 ahead. She straightway got into a good retrieving capacity to negate Yan’s attack. The Chinese showed great fighting spirit to reel off the next six points and grabbed the lead with a mid court smash. Her biggest feats have remained beating opponents like Wang Yihan and Wang Shixian, something that Sindhu has done herself too.
