We are at the same level: Tai Tzu Ying on PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal
The world no.2 shuttler claims that the Indian badminton aces have different styles of playing but does not think any one is better than the other.
Chinese Taipei’s star shuttler Tai Tzu Ying believes that there is not much to choose between Indian badminton Olympic medallists PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and herself.
“There’s not really a lot of difference between Sindhu, Saina and myself,” Tai Tzu Ying said in an interview with the Indian daily, Times of India. “It’s not like I’m better than them or they are better than me. We are all at the same level.”
Both Indian badminton aces, PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal have a less-than-ideal head-to-head record against the world no.2 shuttler, having won just five matches each in 17 and 20 encounters respectively.
PV Sindhu’s most recent loss against her had come in the Premier Badminton League while playing for the Hyderabad Hunters against eventual champions Bengaluru Raptors.
However, she had got the better of Tai Tzu Ying en route her historic World Badminton Championships title last year and had also done so during her silver-medal run at Rio 2016.
Level of competition high among women
The Chinese Taipei shuttler operated on a different level after the Rio 2016 loss though, breaking Li Xuerui’s record for most consecutive unbeaten matches (31), which also included an Asian Games gold in 2018, a final in which she had got the better of PV Sindhu.
If there is one tournament that Tai Tzu Ying would like to improve her record in, it would be the Olympics. She has so far managed pre-quarter appearances at both London 2012 and Rio 2016 but it is a tough ask given the high quality of women’s players coming through.
“It’s very open, anybody’s game,” she admitted in the same interview. “There is obviously Sindhu, Carolina Marin, Chen Yu Fei, He Bing Jiao and Ratchanok Intanon capable of winning the Olympics gold.”
Indian badminton players capable of podium at 2020 Olympics
Tazi Tzu Ying had no hesitation in naming PV Sindhu as one of the candidates to win a medal at the 2020 Olympics but also claimed Indian badminton’s top-ranked men’s players, B Sai Praneeth and Kidambi Srikanth could do so.
India has bagged two medals in badminton at the Olympics - PV Sindhu’s silver at Rio 2016 and Saina Nehwal ‘s bronze at London 2012.