PV Sindhu into Badminton finals in Rio Olympics

(S.Ravi Seshu)

Hyderabad-based badminton sensation PV Sindhu created history by storming into the finals by outsmarting All England champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan 21-19, 21-10 in the semifinals of the women’s singles event at the Rio Olympics on Thursday. World No-10 Sindhu will meet World No-1 Carolina Marin of Spain in the title clash.

Continuing her terrific form, Sindhu made the shuttler from Sumo wrestlers land to crawl on the floor most of the time in the 40-minute battle. The second half of the second game remains a testimony to the double World Championship bronze medallist Sindhu’s iron will and diamond determination. The score was 11-10 in favour of Sindhu during the break time but she wrapped it up 21-10 to become the first Indian to enter Olympic finals, without giving a single point to Okuhara.

Sindhu looked like a mountain of confidence after her stunning performance against two higher ranked opponents — Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying and World No. 2 Wang Yihan of China before making it to the top four.

The Hyderabadi won almost all long rallies and used her power-packed smashes and cross-court shots to good fumble the Japanese opponent, who had won her first BWF Super series title at the 2015 home Open. In 2016, the 21-year-old won the prestigious All England Open, becoming the first Japanese woman player to achieve this feat in the last 39 years.

Sindhu looked very confident from the word go and didn’t allow Okuhara to settle down at any stage of the game. The disciple of Gopichand committed many unforced errors in the second game but a pep talk by her guru during the brake transformed her completely leaving no room for the World No-5.

Earlier, World Champion Carolina Marin humbled the defending Olympic champion Li Xuerui of China 21-14, 21-16 in a completely one-sided match.