Indian shuttler P V Sindhu sailed into the women's singles quarterfinals after beating Denmark's Mia Blichfeldt in straight games at the Tokyo Olympics badminton competition here on Thursday.
The 26-year-old Indian, who won a silver in the 2016 Rio Olympics, notched up a 21-15 21-13 win over 13th seed Blichfeldt in a 41-minute match.
Sindhu started well in the match after trailing 0-2 as she held the advantage throughout, taking an 11-6 lead into the mid-game interval. Mia gained some ground after the interval as Danish closed the gap to just two points but Sindhu came roaring back and later took six points in a row to finish the first set in 22 minutes -- 21-15.
In the second set, Sindhu continued with her momentum from the first, and with some beautiful cross-court downward shots, she took the lead by 5 points in the mid-game interval. Blichfeldt tried to stay in the game by playing some long rallies but the sixth-seed showed her invaluable experience and cruised into the next round as she took the game 21-13.
Sindhu will next face the winner of the match between Akane Yamaguchi of Japan and Korea's Kim Gaeun. On Wednesday, Sindhu had defeated world No. 34 Hong Kong's NY Cheung 21-9 21-16 to top Group J.
Sindhu is the lone Indian badminton hope left in fray after B Sai Praneeth's maiden Olympic campaign ended in agony in the men's competition. He went down in straight games to Mark Caljouw of Netherlands for his second defeat in Group D.
On Tuesday, the men's doubles team of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy suffered a heartbreak after failing to make the quarterfinals despite winning two matches in their group.
(With inputs from ANI and PTI)
