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Tokyo Olympics: P.V. Sindhu outclasses rival Yamaguchi to reach badminton semifinal

With the dominant display, Sindhu makes it to her 2nd successive Olympics semifinal

Tokyo Olympics Badminton India's P. V. Sindhu plays against Japan's Akane Yamaguchi during their women's singles badminton quarterfinal match at the 2020 Summer Olympics | AP

Indian shuttler P.V. Sindhu beat home favourite Akane Yamaguchi 21-13, 22-20 to make it to her second successive singles semifinal at the Olympics. In hot form, Sindhu progresses without dropping a single game at Tokyo 2020.

Despite a shaky start, the sixth seed Indian took a strong 14-9 lead in the first game. At 16-11, the two exchanged blows for the best rally of the game as Sindhu stretched her opponent with some excellent cross-court shots to take the point. It was a dominant display from there as she finished off the game in 23 minutes.

The second game was a more closely fought one, with Sindhu taking a quick lead, taking advantage of Yamaguchi’s unforced errors. She then tightened the screw to race to a 11-6 lead at the interval. But the fourth-seed Japanese was not ready to give in easily.

Yamaguchi fought back to close out the gap and take the lead at 16-15 with long rallies that left Sindhu exhausted. They had shared an unrelenting 54-shot rally just before that, which left them both gasping for breath. With the Japanese having two game points to defend, Sindhu won the next four points in a row to win the match in stunning fashion.

The two renewed a rivalry that has now lasted 19 matches, with Sindhu holding the lead 11-7 before their clash in Tokyo. But Yamaguchi had prevailed in three of their last four meetings, which made it an interesting matchup for a spot in the final four.

Sindhu came into the quarterfinal off three wins without dropping a single game. She had beaten 13th seed Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt 21-15, 21-13 in the pre-quarterfinals. Having won the silver medal at Rio 2016, she will be hoping to better that this time. She will face either Tai Tzu-Ying of Chinese Taipei or Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand, both ranked above her.

Sindhu’s semifinal will be held tomorrow, July 31, after the first semifinal between Chinese stars Chen Yu Fei and Bing Jiao He, which starts at 2:30pm IST.

(With inputs from Reuben Joe Joseph)

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