India shuttler PV Sindhu stormed into the semi-finals of the women's singles event after defeating Japan's number four seed Akane Yamaguchi in the quarterfinals here at the Musashino Forest Plaza Court 1 on Friday. Sindhu defeated Yamaguchi 21-13, 22-20.
The 26-year-old Indian, who won a silver in the 2016 Rio Olympics, defended brilliantly and rode on her attacking all-round game to outclass the fourth seeded Yamaguchi 21-13 22-20 in a 56-minute quarterfinal clash at the Musashino Forest Plaza here.
Yamaguchi tried to play an aggressive game but Sindhu held her ground and used her good anticipation and reach to stay ahead. The Indian brought out her attacking smashes and half smashes whenever there was a chance to put pressure on her rival.
On Thursday, Sindhu had notched up a straight-game triumph over Denmark's Mia Blichfeldt, seeded 13th, in the pre-quarterfinals.
She is the lone Indian in fray in badminton after men's singles player B Sai Praneeth and the men's doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy failed to qualify for the knockout stage.
Hence, Indians cannot keep calm. Twitter is flooded with tweets for Sindhu as Indians are cheering on for the athlete, motivating her to go for gold.
Here's what people are saying. Have a look.
(By agencies)
