PV Sindhu Opens Campaign With Resounding Win at Tokyo Olympics

India’s badminton ace PV Sindhu opened her campaign at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with a regulation win in the first round, seeing off Israel's Ksenia Polikarpova in her Group J match.

Sindhu won the contest at a canter 21-7, 21-10 in 28 minutes.

Sindhu was in sublime form right from the get-go and did not give her opponent an inch in the first game. Sindhu started on an attacking note but briefly found herself trailing 3-4 early on.

However, she quickly fixed that and moved ahead quickly with Polikarpova making unforced errors and entered the break with a 11-5 lead in the first game.

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Soon, Sindhu was on a roll, picking up 13 straight points and using her trademark straight and cross court smashes and drops to trouble the Israeli, who couldn't utilise the few opportunities that came her way.

The sixth seed was in no mood to relent as kicked off her campaign, hoping to go one better from Silver at the Rio Olympics in 2016, where she lost to Carolina Marin in a thrilling final.

After quickly winning the first game, Sindhu continued to work with the momentum and wrapped up her second game with relative ease to register the win.

Polikarpova, who was playing with a strapped knee, continued to struggle with her strokes as Sindhu opened up a 9-3 lead in the second game and then entered the mid-interval with a massive seven-point advantage.

It was business as well after the break, with Sindhu riding on the errors of her opponent.

Another wide shot from Polikarpova gave Sindhu 13 match points. The Indian squandered three of them before Polikarpova once again sent the shuttle out to end the match.

(With PTI Inputs)

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