Sindhu smashes her way into pre-quarterfinals at Olympics
What's the story
Reigning world champion PV Sindhu advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of women's singles badminton event at the Tokyo Olympics after beating Hong Kong's NY Cheung in a Group J match in Tokyo on Wednesday. The 26-year-old Indian prevailed over world number 34 Cheung 21-9 21-16 in a 35-minute match to top the group. This was Sindhu's sixth win over Cheung in as many meetings.
Match
Sindhu had defeated Israel's Ksenia Polikarpova in her opening match
World number 7 Sindhu will meet Denmark's world number 12 Mia Blichfeldt, who topped Group I. Sindhu, has a 4-1 head-to-head record against Blichfeldt, whose only win against the Indian was at the Yonex Thailand Open earlier this year. The shuttler from Hyderabad, seeded sixth, had defeated Ksenia Polikarpova of Israel in her opening match.
Game
Sindhu used her repertoire of strokes to trouble Cheung
Sindhu used her repertoire of strokes, and her ability to vary the pace to trouble the Hong Kong player, making her run around the court. The Indian then came up with perfect placement. Cheung got a few points with her deceptive cross-court returns but she committed many unforced errors to have any chance of putting pressure on the Indian.
Information
Sindhu pocketed the opening game when Cheung netted a return
Sindhu led 6-2 early on before galloping to 10-3. She committed a rare error before entering the interval at 11-5. The Indian didn't have any trouble after the resumption as she zoomed to 20-9 and pocketed the opening game when Cheung netted a return.
Judgment errors
The Indian made judgment errors in the second game
Cheung was looking to script an incredible turnaround in the second game as she extended the rallies and with Sindhu too struggling to control the shuttle, the duo moved 6-6 and 8-8. The Indian also made judgment errors before sending the shuttle wide again to hand over a slender one-point advantage to her opponent.
The win
Sindhu managed to wriggle out with better strokeplay
Cheung tried to put pressure on Sindhu but the Indian wriggled out with her better strokeplay which included a few straight down the line smashes. Sindhu moved to 19-14 before grabbing six match points but she missed the lines again and netted a shot to squander two match points before sealing it with a smash.