What happened four years ago might not be forgotten by Pusarla Venkata Sindhu. She was ready to make history for India at the final round of Rio 2016 Olympics but had to settle with a silver medal. Despite leading in the first game against Spain’s Carolina Marin with 21-19, she lost the next two games by 12-21 and 15-21. Now, at Tokyo 2020 Olympic, the 26-year-old returns. After defeating Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in two straight games 21-13, 22-20, Sindhu is only one step away from getting into the final round.
At the semifinal, Sindhu will be up against the toughness of Taiwan’s second seed Tai Tzu Ying. After a tight rubber set against Ratchanok Intanon from Thailand with 14-21, 21-18, 2-18 in the quarterfinal, Tai Tzu Ying finally got her ticket to the semifinal.
For Sindhu, Tai Tzu Ying is a familiar face. They have met 18 times with Sindhu winning 5 games. But we all have seen throughout Tokyo 2020 Olympics how previous records hold no guarantee. Looking at her performance against Akane Yamaguchi, we all can see her champion mentality. At the second game in the quarter final, Sindhu managed to turned the game from 18-20 in favor of Akane, into 22-20 in her favor.
On the other hand, we also how seen how hard Tai Tzu Ying has been paving her way through to the semifinal.
Whoever comes out as the winner in Sindhu vs Tai will meet China’s representative in the final round as in the other side of the semifinal will be an all-China game of Chen Yu Fei vs He Bing Jiao.