Olympics: PV Sindhu to meet Tai Tzu Ying in semifinal on Saturday

Sindhu marched into the women’s singles semifinals of the Tokyo Olympics with a hard-fought 21-13, 22-20 win over Akane Yamaguchi of Japan

Hyderabad: A big shout followed by the traditional ‘namasthe’ and then the victory celebration. That said it all as World champion PV Sindhu marched into the women’s singles semifinals of the Tokyo Olympics with a hard-fought 21-13, 22-20 win over Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in an intriguing 56-minute battle on Friday.

The 26-year-old 2016 Rio Olympics silver medallist, who is on a mission to change the colour to gold in Tokyo, had to dig in deep in the second game before wriggling out of tight situation for a second successive semifinal appearance. The Indian set up clash with tricky Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei.

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In a match of long rallies, India’s ‘Smiling Assassin’, was yet again in awesome form. The match showcased the contrasting styles of the players – Sindhu’s creative shot-making versus Yamaguchi’s defensive prowess. Sindhu was in full flow during their early exchanges, and she had her opponent in a reactive mode all through as she found the gaps with ease.

Former National coach Bhaskar Babu said Sindhu looked very confident. “She was very sharp with her round the cross court smashes often caught Yamaguchi off guard. There were also some very good round the head shots and lot of variations from the net. The deceptive drop shots were very effective. Yamaguchi was trifle slow at net and committed many unforced errors,’’ he said.

Sindhu started off with a flurry of strokes in the first game. The sixth seed was all hustle, creating openings and killing the shuttle with precision. She took a five-point lead (11-6) at the breather. The dominant Sindhu lengthened that to 18-11 lead and Yamaguchi was able to win two more points only before she lost the first game.

Having stormed away to a 11-6 lead, Sindhu seemed to be in a hurry to finish off the match. But the Japanese had different plans. She kept probing Sindhu’s defence and engaged her in long rallies. It was more of a plan to tire the Indian. There was a 57-shot rally that finally saw a tenacious Yamaguchi winning the point and she closed down the six point deficit to take the lead. She began to mount pressure.

Sindhu hit one of those downward slide but she managed to levelled it at 18-18 all. The Japanese was ahead 20-18 but the brilliance of Sindhu came to the fore to dash the Japanese’s hopes. She saved two match points with brilliant smashes before finishing off the match with a down-the-line smash.

With Yamaguchi’s exit, Japan’s challenge ended in singles as both Kento Momota and Nozomi Okuhara tasted defeat in the knockout stages.

Also read:

PV Sindhu waltzes into semifinals at Tokyo Olympics

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