PV Sindhu Faces Stern Test in Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu-Ying
All eyes will be on PV Sindhu when she takes on Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu-Ying in the women's semi-finals today at 3.20 pm. Sindhu stormed into her second successive Olympics semi-final on Friday after a thrilling 21-13, 22-20 victory over fourth seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan.
Sindhu will be eyeing the much-coveted gold medal but will face a stern test in Tzu-Ying, ranked No.1 in the world, who also has a competitive advantage over Sindhu, leading their head-to-head count 13-5. The last time the two players met was in BWF Tour Finals in 2020, where Sindhu lost the match 21-19, 12-21, 17-21.
Sindhu, who has won all her games in straight sets so far, had reached the finals in 2016 but had lost to Spain's Carolina Marin and had to settle for silver. Marin had opted out of the games due to an ACL injury.
Archer Atanu Das will face Japan's Takaharu Furukawa in his Round of 16 match at 7.18 am. Das had stunned Korean great and London Olympic gold medalist Oh Jinhyek in his last match.
Boxer Pooja Rani will face Qian Li of China in the Women's Middle (69-75 kg) Quarter-final match at 3.36 pm. Meanwhile, Amit Panghal will take on Colombia's Yuberjen Herney Martinez Rivas in the Men's Fly (48-52kg) Round of 16 match at 7.30 am.
The women's hockey team will face South Africa in their last group match at 8.45 am and still have a chance of making it to the quarter-final.
Shooters Tejaswini Sawant and Anjum Moudgil will be in action in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Women's Qualification round at 8.30 am.
Kamalpreet Kaur, Women's Hockey Team Only Ones To Advance on a Disappointing Day for India
Overall, it was a disappointing Day 8 for India. Kamalpreet Kaur stole the show today by qualifying for the women's discus final with a throw of 64.0m. The only other success came from the women's hockey team, who won 4-3 against South Africa and still have a chance of making it to the quarter-finals.
Archer Atanu Das was knocked-out in the round-of-16. Boxer Pooja Rani was ousted in the quarter-final, while Amit Panghal too lost his round-of-16 match. Shooters Tejaswini Sawant and Anjum Moudgil failed to make it to the 50m rifle 3 positions final. Long-jumper M Sreeshankar finished 13th in the long jump qualifications event.
Athletics: Sreeshankar finishes 13th in the Men's Long Jump Qualification round. He managed a 7.69 in his first attempt, a 7.51 in his second and a 7.43 in his third. His best of 7.69 is not enough to qualify for the final. The qualification mark was 8.15.
Badminton: PV Sindhu will now fight for bronze tomorrow against China's He Bing Jiao at 5pm.
Badminton: What a smash by Tai. Widens the lead to six points. An aggressive Sindhu replies with a smash of her own which is too good for Tai. A cross-court smash from Tai now. Using the angles well. A body smash followed by a clear. An 8-point gap between the two. Tai leading 16-8. An error by Tai followed by a nice return by Sindhu. But Tai returns with a drop shot. A crosscourt clear makes it 18-10. An error by Tai. 18-11. An unforced error by Sindhu. 20-12. And Tai finishes it off with a cross court smash. Tai Tzu Ying wins it 21-18, 21-12. A straight set loss for her.