Surefooted & steadfast Sindhu in semis

Day 7
My View
Supreme Sindhu

Round the head cross court smashes, delicate drops, placements and an out of sorts opponent in Agame Yamaguchi propelled India’s P V Sindhu into the semifinal of the Tokyo Olympics’ Women’s Singles badminton event.

Taking the first set 21-13, the surefooted Sindhu lost some of her rhythm to concede her six point lead to Yamaguchi in the second game after the Japanese World No 4 ironed out her first game unforced errors issues.

However, Yamaguchi could not come on the top of her game despite the long rallies and net trouble that Sindhu started experiencing later in the match. Sindhu goes into the semifinal without dropping a single game in the run-up. She finished 22-20 in the second game showing up Yamaguchi’s unexplained limitations in this quarter final.

Sindhu, on the other hand, was sure-footed and waited for her terms to execute the shots.
Of special mention here is Sindhu’s confidence in flirting with around the head cross court drops and smashes despite them being the most difficult in badminton repertoire. She coupled this with delicate net drops, catching Yamaguchi often on the wrong foot.

Going into the penultimate match to the Gold medal bid, Sindhu will surely be reviewing her shortcomings of losing concentration as she nears victory, her tussle with the borderline smashes going wrong and out of the court when they could have been winners, and her stamina if at all the semifinal goes into the third game.

Till now, the tidings are going the Indian way, despite Sindhu training away from her original coach and mentor P Gopichand.