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Reigning world champion P V Sindhu superior to the pre-quarterfinals of girls’s singles badminton occasion nevertheless it was curtains for males’s singles participant B Sai Praneeth on the Tokyo Olympics right here on Wednesday.
Sindhu, who had claimed a silver medal within the final version in Rio, prevailed over world No. 34 Hong Kong’s NY Cheung 21-9 21-16 in a 35-minute match to high Group J.
Nonetheless, thirteenth seed Praneeth didn’t convey his ‘A’ recreation to the desk as soon as once more, taking place 14-21 14-21 to Mark Caljouw of Netherlands in 40 minutes for his second defeat in Group D.
Caljow, with this win, topped the group to qualify for the knockout stage. Solely the group toppers advance to the knockout stage.
For Sindhu, it was her sixth win over Cheung in as many conferences.
“I discovered my rhythm from the second recreation on and I completed it off. It was a quick recreation and I made a few unforced errors. I modified my ways and received issues beneath management. This kind of check is essential earlier than a giant match,” the 26-year-old Indian mentioned after the match.
World No. 7 Sindhu will meet Denmark’s world quantity 12 Mia Blichfeldt, who topped Group I. Sindhu has a 4-1 head-to-head report towards Blichfeldt, whose solely win towards the Indian was on the Yonex Thailand Open earlier this yr.
“It’s not going to be a straightforward recreation. I must get well effectively and are available again stronger. I’ve performed her a few instances, each level goes to be essential. She’s an aggressive participant so I have to be aggressive as effectively,” Sindhu mentioned.
The shuttler from Hyderabad, seeded sixth, had defeated Ksenia Polikarpova of Israel in her opening match.
Sindhu used her repertoire of strokes, and her means to differ the tempo troubled the Hong Kong participant. Sindhu made her opponent run across the court docket and can then provide you with good placements to win factors.
Cheung received just a few factors together with her misleading cross court docket returns however she dedicated many unforced errors to have any likelihood of placing strain on the Indian within the first recreation.
Sindhu led 6-2 early on earlier than galloping to 10-3. She dedicated a uncommon error at 10-3 earlier than coming into the interval at 11-5. The Indian didn’t have any bother after resumption as she zoomed to 20-9 and pocketed the opening recreation when Cheung netted a return.
Cheung was trying to script a turnaround within the second recreation as she prolonged the rallies and with Sindhu too struggling to regulate the shuttle, the duo moved to 6-6 and 8-8.
Sindhu additionally made judgement errors earlier than sending the shuttle broad once more at hand over a slender one level benefit to her opponent.
Cheung tried to place strain on Sindhu however the Indian wriggled out together with her higher strokeplay which included just a few straight down the road smashes.
Sindhu moved to 19-14 earlier than grabbing six match factors however she missed the strains once more and netted a shot to squander two match factors earlier than sealing it with a smash.
On Tuesday, Indian shuttlers Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy suffered a heartbreak after they didn’t qualify for the lads’s doubles quarterfinals on the Tokyo Olympics regardless of profitable two matches of their group.
The Indian duo had emerged victorious towards the England pair of Ben Lane and Sean Vendy of their ultimate Group A match however nonetheless missed out on qualifying for the quarterfinals after the three pairs ended with similar factors and video games gained have been thought-about to establish the qualifiers. PTI
