On Thursday evening, PV Sindhu will walk out on to the courts at the Rio Centro Pavilion, looking to win the biggest match of her career. History beckons for her and Indian badminton, as no shuttler from the country has ever reached an Olympic final. But to put it in her own words, “The goal is to not to win a medal, but to beat the best.”
Hence, I write that when the 21-year-old steps on to the court on Thursday, her only aim would be to put it past Nozomi Okuhara and move on to the next challenge that lies ahead of her.
Sindhu’s showing at the Rio Olympics so far has been nothing less than staggering. When the draw for Rio came out, not many gave her a chance. Being slated to play Tzu Ying Tai and Wang Yihan in the Round of 16 and quarterfinals respectively meant that she had to bring her A game out before even thinking of a medal. But she has done exactly that on two consecutive days, and now finds herself on the cusp of something big – the chance to win at the Olympics in her debut appearance.
Standing in her way, trying to stop her from doing so, is Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara, the reigning All England champion and a player who has troubled the top players regularly in the last 8-9 months. She defeated the reigning world champion Carolina Marin twice at the Dubai Superseries Finals last year, en route to winning the title.
The most striking area where Sindhu has been terrific so far has been her defense. Her ability to return back almost everything that has been thrown at her has been a revelation, and as a result sge has lost fewer points than usual. Also, her deceptive game, where she combines the down the line hits very well with the cross courts smashes, has also worked in her favour.
The head-to-head between the two players reads 2-1 in favour of the Japanese, but at the Olympics, past matches or score matter very little. If Sindhu can bring her A-game to the table once again, then we could see something special happen on Thursday evening.
Matchup: PV Sindhu vs Nozomi Okuhara
Time: 7:30 P.M. IST
TV Details: Star Sports network, hotstar.com and DD National.
