Tokyo Olympics: PV Sindhu storms into quarter-finals after dominant win over Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt
Tokyo Olympics: Rio silver medallist PV Sindhu stormed into the badminton quarter-finals after beating Denmark's Mia Blichfeldt 21-15, 21-13 on Thursday.
In Short
- PV Sindhu needed just 41 minutes to ouclass Mia Blichfeldt
- Sindhu looked sharp and played an aggressive game on Thursday
- Sindhu likely to face arch-rival Akane Yamaguchi in quarters
Rio Olympic silver medalist PV Sindhu’s Tokyo dreams are well and truly alive. The World No. 7 stormed into the quarterfinals of the women’s singles badminton event at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday.
PV Sindhu came up with a clinical display against World No. 12 and highly-talented Mia Blichfeldlt, beating the Danish shutter 21-15, 21-13 in just 41 minutes in her Round of 16 match at the Musashino Forest Plaza in Tokyo.
Sindhu will face the winner of the Round of 16 match between 4th seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan and 12th seed Kim in the quarter-final on Friday.
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The loud roars from the Indian shuttler reverberated through the empty stands in Tokyo as Sindhu toppled Mia, beating the Danish shuttler in a game of aggression. Sindhu got off the blocks slow in both her women’s singles group-stage matches against lower-ranked opponents but on Thursday, the Indian shuttler was switched on from the word go.
On the eve of the Round of 16 match, Sindhu had spoken about the aggressive nature of Mia. In fact, in 2021, the two shuttlers met twice and the Danish star stunned Sindhu at the Thailand Open in Tokyo before Sindhu avenged that defeat in the Swiss Open.
.@Pvsindhu1 wins the match against #DEN Mia Blichfeldt with a score of 21-15, 21-13
With this, Sindhu advances to quarter-final
Wishing her all the best for the future matches! #Badminton#Tokyo2020 #Cheer4India#SmashForTheGlory pic.twitter.com/pTxnkKxcGv — SAIMedia (@Media_SAI) July 29, 2021
With all that knowledge in her bag, Sindhu started the match not just matching her opponent’s aggression but overpowering it. She was moving wonderfully on the court and mixing it up well to race to an 11-6 lead in the first game. Sindhu had said in the lead-up to the Games that she was working on a couple of new shots and the accuracy with which she is hitting the overhead drop is astounding.
Sindhu was troubled on her backhand side by Mia who found her feet after the break in the first game. She stitched a run of 5 straight points to make it 11-13 in the first game but Sindhu found an extra gear to close out the first game in 22 minutes.
Having been here and done this before, Sindhu was not going to go down after taking the first game, and she raced to a 5-0 lead in the 2nd game.