Badminton
Tokyo Olympics: PV Sindhu steamrolls past NY Cheung and stays on track for a medal
No hiccups so far for World No. 7 PV Sindhu at the Tokyo Olympics as she confidently sailed into the Round of 16 after topping Group J.
Badminton player PV Sindhu (Source Getty Images)
Looking to come out as the topper of Group J, PV Sindhu sparred off against Hong Kong's Cheung Ngan Yi at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 on Wednesday.
India's medal hope in badminton, PV Sindhu, eased past the 58th ranked Israel's Ksenia Polikarpova 21-7, 21-10 in her opening Group J match on Sunday. Ngan Yi, currently ranked World No. 34 was expected to offer some kind of resistance and on her day can be a dangerous player - failed to offer any today.
Needing just 35 minutes to close out the match and brush past her opponent from Hong Kong, the 2016 Rio Olympics silver medallist won, 21-9, 21-16 and marched ahead into the Round of 16!
Having said that, the 26-year-old Indian shuttler enjoys a healthy head-to-head lead against her Hong Kong counterpart.
Towering at 5-0 on the board, Sindhu has never let Cheung Ngan Yi win a match against her, even if the Hong Kong player has managed to take a few games off the Sindhu racquet, in as many as 3 out of the 5 encounters, that spanned the full length of 3 games.
But, today, with another win over the 34th ranked Ngan Yi, Sindhu has now earned her ticket to the top place of her group and therefore will now move on to the Round of 16 where she is expected to lock horns against Denmark's Mia Blichfeldt, which will be the first real challenge for the 2019 World Champion.
PV Sindhu started off the match on a positive note, dictating the first set on her own terms as she blasted her way to a 10-5 lead. She was good across the court, mixing her smashes and her drop shots.
She was exceptional with her cross court smashes to which Ngan Yi didn't have an answer to. The Indian girl looked impeccable and in a different zone when she took the set, 21-9 with 11 game points.
The second set was a far better one for the 34th ranked Ngan Yi who showed some fighting spirit and led the set 11-10 at the first break. Sindhu, kept her nerves and showed why she's the silver medalist from the 2016 Rio Olympics as she took charge of the game and closed out the set at 21-16. Sindhu now faces Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark who's ranked 12 in the world.
