RIO DE JANEIRO: PV Sindhu beautifully beat to London Olympics silver medalist Yihan Wang, is one of her best moment she is hoping that she could maintain her good form against Japanese Nozomi Okuhara in the semi-finals of the Rio Olympics.
Sindhu was expressing her feeling after match, “This is also Rio Olympics, it’s a very different feeling. It’s one of the best moments. I hope there will be many more to come,” World No 10 said after her 22-20 21-19 victory to become second Indian after Saina Nehwal to reach last four at Olympics.
She was answering to the pressure of winning an Olympic medal for India in this difficult time, she replied, “I was just thinking about the game. If you play really well you will automatically win the game, and a medal. I’m just focused on my match and the next match, the semis (against Okuhara). I hope I can give my best.”
Sindhu is 7 year younger to Chinese, the two-time world championship bronze medallist Indian drag by 10-12 and was 20-20, she was quite to win two points and take an intense first game. Sindhu maintained her patience which helped her winning crucial points when the much unreal Chinese opponent was retrieving everything she threw at her.
“There were big rallies, she was attacking well. My smashes were going out initially. Even she did not leave and she was lifting everything. I was really patient and I was ready for everything, which I feel was the turning point.”
“I never thought I would lose this, because any moment anything can change. It was not so easy to get points, both of us fought for every point. It was very close. In the first game it was 20-all and I felt even though I was leading I never thought the game was over. She came really close, even she played brilliantly,” she said.
On Wednesday, Sindhu played with world number three Nozomi Okuhara, Coach Pullela Gopichand feels she could do better in defensive ability in the Olympic semifinals.
Sindhu, worlds no 10 champion, who has record 1-3 win-loss against Nozomi, has never beaten the Japanese since the Asian Youth Under-19 Championship in 2012 and has lost on three consecutive occasions in 2014, 2015 and the last being Asian Team Championship in Hyderabad earlier in February this year.
Gopichand said after Sindhu earned a hard-fought 22-20 21-19 win over world number two Wang to make the semis, “It was good (the win against Wang Yihan) but in my book she can do a notch higher. There’s of course some chances of improvement in a couple of areas,”
