PV Sindhu has advanced to the round of 16 at the Paris Olympics with a comfortable win over her opponent Kristin Kuuba of Estonia. She finished the clash in just two sets winning 21-5, 21-10 not giving an inch to Kuuba who had no answers to her smashes and drops. For the unversed, Sindhu is a massive hope for India at the Olympics having won two medals before.
She secured silver at the Rio Olympics in 2016 and then claimed bronze at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. India will be hoping for the medal colour to change this time but for that to happen, Sindhu has a long way to go and will have to give her best effort now to make it to the semifinals.
Coming back to her performance in the group stage, Sindhu didn't give a single chance to her group stage opponents at any stage. In her first game on Sunday (July 28), she defeated Maldives' Fatimath Nabaaha 21-9, 21-6 in straight sets and today, India's two-time Olympic medallist thrashed Kuuba to comfortably qualify for the next round.
The 10th-seeded Indian shuttler was always expected to qualify for the round of 16 but with the kind of wins she has registered so far, one can say, India can hope for a medal from her this time as well. The fixtures in the round of 16 are not yet finalised and it is still unknown who will be Sindhu's opponent in the pre-quarter-finals.
Sindhu is the only Indian in women's singles to compete and going by the groups lined up, is likely to face China's He Bing Jiao who is sixth-seeded. Interestingly, Sindhu had defeated the same player at the Tokyo Olympics to secure bronze three years ago.
