After Saina Nehwal’s shock loss and ouster from Rio, the onus lies on the slender shoulders of PV Sindhu to reignite the dying hopes of a medal for India. The quest, however, gets tougher for the Indian as up against her on Sunday in the Round of 16 tie will be Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying.
The 22-year old has quickly risen through the ranks and will hold the aces against the Indian.
Ying is ranked two places above Sindhu in the rankings at 8th place and, comes into the match after thumping her Russian opponent Natalia Perminova in her previous game. On the other hand, Sindhu didn’t exactly make light work of Canada’s Michelle who managed to claim the first set against her before making too many silly errors to hand the Indian both the remaining sets.
The badminton star from the Chinese Taipei possesses some enviable levels of powers of concentration and with her but, she is one of the most fleet-footed on the court. Her jerky movements have upset the rhythm of the best of her opponents and will challenge Sindhu’s concentration for sure. Sidhu’s country mate Saina Nehwal used to fall prey to the 22-year old’s guile too many times and had a poor record to show against her.
Ying will also be looking forward to exploit the tall height of Sindhu that has often caused her trouble. For Sindhu, it’s about bringing her ‘A’ game to the fore which hasn’t been on display yet despite the victories. If she can carry forward the momentum from the last game and breaks it set by set instead of focusing on the larger picture at once, it is going to help her a lot in rediscovering her mojo that makes her one of the medal hopefuls for India in this Olympics.
What can prove to be her undoing, though, is the burden of expectations that she will now have to face in the wake of Saina's shock exit. The 2012 Bronze medalist was one of the strongest contenders ahead of the Olympics, but with her gone, Sindhu has a chance of coming out of her shadows and corner some glory for herself. The 21-year-old, however, has shown maturity beyond her age in the past as well and her temperament has never been under any question.
The calmness that Sindhu has exuded in her pre-Olympic interviews has been on show on court too, thankfully and should keep her good stead going into the match. The first set will hold the key to the contest as the 22-year-old Ying has shown a propensity of pushing on the pedal once on the front foot and making it difficult for her opponent to come back into the contest.
Matchup:PV Sindhu vs Tzu Ying Tai
Time: 2 A.M IST
TV details: Star Sports, hotstar.com and DD National
