Highlights:
- PV Sindhu enters semi-fianls of Tokyo Olympics in women’s singles Badminton
- Sindhu defeated Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in straight sets in the quarterfinals which lasted almost an hour
- India has never won a gold for Badminton in Olympics
The reigning world champion P V Sindhu has kept the nation’s hopes of winning its first-ever Olympic gold in badminton alive as she reached the semifinals of women’s singles with a fighting straight-game win over the world #5 Akane Yamaguchi from Japan here on Friday.
The 26-year-old Indian, who won a silver in the 2016 Rio Olympics, defended brilliantly and rode on her attack to outclass the fourth-seeded Yamaguchi 21-13 22-20 in a 56-minute quarterfinal clash at the Musashino Forest Plaza.
She is now going to face the winner of the other quarterfinal between Thailand’s Ratchanok Inthanon and Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying.
The sixth-seeded Indian came into the match with an 11-7 head-to-head count against the Japanese, whom she had last beaten at the All England Championship in March this year.
On Thursday, Sindhu managed to clutch a straight-game triumph over Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt, 13th seed, in the pre-quarterfinals. She was the lone Indian in the fray in badminton after men’s singles player B Sai Praneeth and men’s doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy failed to qualify for the knockout stage.
