OLYMPICS: SINDHU STORMS INTO QUARTERFINALS AFTER DEFEATING MIA BLICHFELDT

Star Indian shuttler PV Sindhu defeated Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt in the Round of 16 match of women’s individual event in the Tokyo Olympics here at the Musashino Forest Plaza Court 3 on Thursday. Sindhu defeated Mia Blichfeldt 21-15, 21-13 in just 41 minutes to cruise into the quarter-finals.

Sindhu started well in the match after trailing 0-2 as she held the advantage throughout, taking an 11-6 lead into the mid-game interval. Mia gained some ground after the interval as Danish closed the gap to just two points but Sindhu came roaring back and later took six points in a row to finish the first set in 22 minutes — 21-15. In the second set, Sindhu continued with her momentum from the first, and with some beautiful cross-court downward shots, she took the lead by 5 points in the mid-game interval. Blichfeldt tried to stay in the game by playing some long rallies but the sixth-seed showed her invaluable experience and cruised into the next round as she took the game 21-13.

Sindhu will now face either 12th seed South Korean Gaeun Kim or Japan’s 4th seed Akane Yamaguchi in the last 8. On Wednesday, Sindhu defeated Hong Kong’s Ngan Yi Cheung in straight sets 21-9, 21-16 to cruise into the elimination round of women’s singles. This was the second successive win for the 2016 silver medallist who earlier on Sunday started her Tokyo campaign on a good note after defeating Israel’s Ksenia Polikarpova 21-7, 21-10. The entire match lasted for just 28 minutes.