Dikhyaa Mohanty 
P V Sindhu who had claimed a silver medal in the last edition in Rio now went to the pre-quarterfinals of women’s singles badminton event at the Tokyo Olympics after beating Hong Kong’s NY Cheung in a Group J match.
According to the reports, Sindhu prevailed over world No. 34 Cheung 21-9 21-16 in a 35-minute match to top the group. World No. 7 Sindhu will meet Denmark’s world number 12 Mia Blichfeldt, who topped Group I. Sindhu has a 4-1 head-to-head record against Blichfeldt, whose only win against the Indian was at the Yonex Thailand Open earlier this year.
Sindhu led 6-2 early on before galloping to 10-3. She committed a rare error before entering the interval at 11-5. The Indian didn’t have any trouble after the resumption as she zoomed to 20-9 and pocketed the opening game when Cheung netted a return.
Cheung was looking to script an incredible turnaround in the second game as she extended the rallies and with Sindhu to struggling to control the shuttle, the duo moved 6-6 and 8-8. Sindhu also made judgement errors before sending the shuttle wide again to hand over a slender one-point advantage to her opponent.
Cheung tried to put pressure on Sindhu but the Indian wriggled out with her better strokeplay which included a few straight down the line smashes. Sindhu moved to 19-14 before grabbing six match points but she missed the lines again and netted a shot to squander two match points before sealing it with a smash.
