Anilava Chatterjee, Tokyo: Ace Indian shuttler PV Sindhu produced yet another brilliant performance to enter the semi finals of badminton women’s singles at Tokyo Olympics on Friday. Sindhu got the better of No 4 seed Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in straight games 21-13, 22-20 in 56 minutes. 26 year old Sindhu will meet Chinese Tapei’s Tai Tzu Ying on Saturday and a win would assure her and the country another medal.
“I’m happy but it’s not over yet. For me it’s time to go back, relax and get ready for the next match. I’m happy but I need to prepare for the next match,” said Sindhu while talking to the media persons in Tokyo.
Although Sindhu dominated the proceedings in the first game, Yamaguchi put up a brave fight in the second before eventually losing out. According to Sindhu, today’s match against Yamagachi was the best game for her in the tournament so far.
“So far yes. Winning the second game was important. Even though she got a few points I never got nervous. I think we trained hard for this and my coach was constantly saying okay, it’s not over yet, be focused and you can do it. I knew she is going to come back even though I was leading. I was prepared for it. There were long rallies and a few unforced errors from my side as I hit a few smashes. Apart from that I was happy that I closed the match at the end.” Sindhu said.
Sindhu has worked on her game during the pandemic with her coach. And it was evident in her game on Friday.
“I did say earlier I have been working on a few techniques which you will get to see and it was one of them. And that was really an important point. I am happy that it worked,” said Sindhu.
Lastly on being asked about the learning’s from the match against Yamagachi, Sindhu said, “Even though you are leading you cannot expect the match to finish easy. Even if you are trailing 18-20 you should never lose hope. It’s all about fight back and that’s what I have learnt.”