Reigning world champion PV Sindhu advanced to the last-16 of the women’s singles badminton event at the Tokyo Olympics after beating Hong Kong’s NY Cheung in a group J match here on Wednesday.
The 26-year-old Indian, who had claimed a silver medal in the last edition in Rio, prevailed over world No. 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.
“I found my rhythm from the second game on and I finished it off. It was a fast game and I made a couple of unforced errors. I changed my tactics and got things under control.
“This type of test is important before a big match,” Sindhu said after the match.
World No. 7 Sindhu will meet Denmark’s world No. 12 Mia Blichfeldt, who topped Group I, on Thursday morning. 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.
“It’s not going to be an easy game. I need to recover well and come back stronger. I’ve played her a couple of times, every point is going to be important. She’s an aggressive player so I need to be aggressive as well,” Sindhu said.
The shuttler from Hyderabad, seeded sixth, had defeated Ksenia Polikarpova of Israel in her opening match.
Later in the day, B. Sai Praneeth lost to M. Caljouw of the Netherlands 14-21, 14-21 in his second and final men’s singles Group D match.
Praneeth opened up a 8-5 lead initially but Caljouw caught up to lead 11-9 at the break. The Dutch player continued to maintain his stranglehold on the Indian to eventually pocket the first game. Praneeth looked more aggressive in the second game and zoomed to a 6-0 lead.
But Caljouw once again worked his way back to lead 10-8 after Praneeth erred twice. He held a three-point advantage when the Indian shot long.
Praneeth was inconsistent and erratic and didn’t have answers to his opponent’s precise returns.
“I was not confident enough. I was trying everything but there was no confidence in my strokes,” Praneeth said.
On Tuesday, Indian shuttlers Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy suffered a heartbreak after they failed to qualify for the men’s doubles quarter finals at the Tokyo Olympics despite winning two matches in their group.