Badminton players-Kidambi Srikanth and Pusarla Venkata Sindhu, trainees of Pullela Gopichand,entered to quarterfinals in Olympics at Rio
(S.Ravi Seshu)
Two Hyderabad-based Badminton players-Kidambi Srikanth and Pusarla Venkata Sindhu, trainees of Pullela Gopichand, progressed to quarterfinals with a superb performance in Rio keeping India’s medal hopes alive. The deadly duo will face two toughest Chinese in their next round.
While the highest ranked Indian shuttler, Srikanth (World No-11) edged past World No-5 Jan Jorgensen of Denmark 21-19, 21-19 on Monday evening, Sindhu too notched up a straight-game win over Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying 21-13, 21-15 to march ahead in the competition in the early hours of Tuesday. With Sindhu was covering all parts of the court with a lot of ease, Tai couldn’t display her natural game.
Srikanth will face the two-time defending champion and five-time world champion, Lin Dan, on Wednesday even as Sindhu will lock horns with World No-2 Yihan Wang of China, London 2012 Olympic Silver medalist and 2011 World Championship champ. The two-time World Championship bronze-medallist Sindhu is in good form to take any player in her medal hunt.
“It will be tough, not easy. I have to give my best. I’ve played against her long ago, but it’s been a long gap,” Sindhu said adding that result will depend on the strategy on that particular day.
Srikanth’s next opponent Lin Dan is the two-time defending champion and five-time world champion. Having beat Lin Dan in China Open two straight games (21-19, 21-17) a couple of years ago, it is not an impossible task for Indian shuttler. “I can beat Lin Dan on my day,” a confidant Srikanth announced later.
Earlier, in the 42-minute high voltage battle, the 23-year-old Srikanth exhibited world class game to register his second win over the European champion in four matches. Srikanth foxed Jorgensen, bronze medallist in the 2014 World Championships, with his bodyline game after repeatedly failing to deal with him in net dribbling. With a series of fumbles due to his weak backhand returns, Srikanth lagged behind at the later part of the second game. But, Gopichand was heard asking Srikanth to cover his weak spot.
Srikanth stalled his opponent’s all out efforts to keep him the back foot and wrapped up the game with similar score line.
