‘Not easy’ - PV Sindhu cautious despite all-win record versus Tokyo group opponents
The Rio silver medallist enjoys a perfect win record against both her group-stage opponents.
Reigning world champion PV Sindhu may have got a favourable draw at the Tokyo Olympics but the Indian badminton player isn’t taking things for granted.
Drawn in Group J of the women's singles, PV Sindhu will face Hong Kong’s Cheung Ngan Yi - against whom she has won all five of her matches - and Kselina Polikarpova of Israel - whom she has beaten twice in as many encounters.
PV Sindhu, the women’s singles sixth seed, needs to finish top in her group to progress to the round of 16.
“It's a good draw in the group stage. Cheung Ngan Yi plays well and it's going to be a good match,” PV Sindhu said in a Badminton Association of India (BAI) statement.
“Everybody will be in top form, I hope I do well. Every match is important so I will take it match by match. This is the Olympics and it is not going to be easy, each point is very important,” she emphasised.
If all the seeds progress as expected, PV Sindhu will face Danish shuttler Mia Blichfeldt in the Round of 16. If she gets past the Dane, the Rio 2016 silver medallist could be up against home favourite Akane Yamaguchi in the last eight.
Meanwhile, India’s only representative in the men’s singles, B Sai Praneeth, faces a tougher challenge in the group stage on his Olympics debut.
B Sai Praneeth, the 13th seed in men’s singles, will face Dutchman Mark Caljouw and Israel’s Misha Zilberman in Group D, following which he could face eighth-seeded Ng Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong in the Round of 16.
“It's a mixed draw, not so tough and not so good. I have to be 100 per cent to win all the matches,” 2019 World Championships bronze medallist Sai Praneeth said, looking forward to the challenge.
The men’s doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy have the toughest draw among Indians.
They will face top seeds Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo/Marcus Fernaldi Gideon of Indonesia and Chinese Taipei’s Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin, the reigning BWF World Tour Finals champions, in Group A.
Great Britain’s Ben Lane/ Sean Vendy are the fourth team in the group and the former European Junior Championships silver medallists can also put up a stern challenge.
However, doubles coach Mathias Boe - an Olympic silver medallist at London 2012 - was optimistic about the Indian pair’s chances.
“It's a very even group which means even if you lose a match, you are still in the game because nobody knows what will happen,” Boe said.
"We'll focus on preparing as much as possible in the last few weeks. We will attack on court and hopefully, we will get good results.”
At Tokyo 2020, the group stage of the badminton events starts on July 24 at the Musashino Forest Sport Plaza.