PV SINDHU
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The 21-year old Sindhu is currently ranked tenth in the world, the second Indian shuttler in the top-10 after the fifth-ranked Saina Nehwal. This is the first time that India has two women in the singles category at the Olympics.
Born in Hyderabad, she also trains at the Gopichand Badminton Academy. She was conferred the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian award, in March last year.
Sindhu’s advantage lies in her height, and she has been adjusting her footwork to maximise the advantage, more so after suffering a navicular bone injury in her right foot last year.
Claim to fame
Being a 16-year-old when Saina Nehwal won the bronze at the London Olympics in 2012, Sindhu breached the top-20 rankings in September the same year.
In 2013, Sindhu became the first Indian women’s singles player to win a medal at the World Championships. She reached the semifinals of the Glasgow Commonwealth games in 2014, thus becoming the first Indian to win back-to-back medals at the Championships.
Last year, she reached the finals of the Denmark Super Series event, beating three seeded players in the process. She also won three consecutive Macau Open Grand Prix Gold titles.
Recent form
Sindhu was ousted in the first round of the Australian Open last year, losing 15-21, 19-21 to Kim Hyo Min.
Before that, she reached the semifinals of the Uber Cup, subsequently losing to Wang Shixian. In the doubles, she combined with N. Sikki Reddy and Ashwini Ponappa, winning the bronze.
She also reached the quarters of the German Open, the Swiss Open, the Indian Open and the China Masters.
Head-to-head against top opponents
Sindhu’s performance against the top-ranked Carolina Marin stands at 3-4 in win-loss ratio. Their most recent encounter was at the Hong Kong Open, where Sindhu lost 17-21, 9-21 to the Spaniard.
Against Wang Yihan, currently ranked second, Sindhu stands at 2-4 in win versus loss, losing thrice in a row across 2014 and 2015, before pegging one back with a victory at the Denmark Open last year.
Third-ranked Li Xuerui also boasts of a 2-4 advantage over Sindhu, winning their last encounter at the Denmark Open in 2015.
Apart from this, Sindhu and Saina have met once, in the finals of the Indian Grand Prix Open in 2014, where Saina claimed the bragging rights.
Summary
Sindhu’s major concern is her inconsistency, with first-round exits interspersed with bright spots of excellence. She also has a tendency of losing to lesser-ranked players after defeating the higher ranked ones.
