Ready for knockout punch

Tribune News Service

Paris, July 31
PV Sindhu, two-time Olympics medallist, handed a lesson to Estonia’s Kristin Kuuba in their round-robin pool match to top Group M and sail into the pre-quarterfinals. Though she didn’t quite need it, Sindhu was egged on by a sizeable Indian presence in the stands, who urged to her insistently: “Go India go!” Sindhu did go on to win the match, rather easily, at 21-5 21-10.
Kristin is 27 and she’s been around, but she’d never played Sindhu before. She was stung by Sindhu’s power, surprised by her reach. “She was able to reach up to make returns,” she said. “Also, her smashes were very powerful — very fast.” Kristin, a tall, statuesque woman who seems to be a supreme athlete, knew she was not quite in the same league as the Indian.

Sindhu knew that, too. “Even if I was confident, it was important for me to display my game and finish it off,” she said. “I can’t take it easy — I had to top the group. I had to be at my best. I had to see how the court conditions were. It was a good game, I now have to prepare for the next match.”
The way Sindhu spoke about the game — her wish to gauge the court conditions, top the group, to prepare for the next game — she seemed to be talking about a sparring session with a friend. And it indeed turned out to be not much more than a light sparring session with a non-threatening friend, lasting just 48 minutes.
Next up for Sindhu would be a highly-threatening player, He Bingiao; Sindhu had beaten He in the bronze medal match at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. “It won’t be an easy match,” Sindhu said. “It’s the elimination round, so it would be tough. There won’t be any easy points. There would be long rallies. I have to be at my best. I have to be at my best physically and mentally.”
Sindhu trails He 9-11 in their career; the last time they met, at the Asian Games last year, He won 21-16 21-12 in the quarterfinals. Sindhu knows she has a fight on her hands in the first knockout match at Paris. “There won’t be an easy match now on,” she said. “I want a medal, but it’s one match at a time.”
Sen on target
Lakshya Sen too entered the pre-quarterfinals, decimating world No. 3 Jonatan Christie of Indonesia for a 21-18 21-12 win in their Group L match.
Christie made a high number of errors, especially in the second game; it seems he may have been unable to come to terms with the draught in the hall — which Sindhu talked about — which made the shuttle travel faster from one side of the court. He hit long or wide far too many times in the second game after the first game saw a tight contest.
“It was a really tough match today. I’m happy with the way I played, especially in the first set,” said Sen. “I took an early lead and found my rhythm quickly, and then it was a matter of a few points at the end and I just stuck in there.”
In the second game, Christie quickly turned desperate, and that made him strike without control. “I tried to be brave to press harder but several times my shots went wide,” he said.
In the pre-quarterfinals, Sen would play compatriot HS Prannoy, who beat Vietnam’s Le Duc Phat 16-21 21-11 21-12 late on Wednesday in their Group K match.