The newest episode in what was once a historic rivalry at the pinnacle of international badminton was not much to write home about. PV Sindhu and Nozomi Okuhara are both past world champions who are fighting to recover from injury. Sindhu, on the other hand, thrashed her Japanese opponent in a round-of-32 match at the Arctic Open on Tuesday in Finland.
Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medalist, won 21-13, 21-6 in a match that lasted only 33 minutes and was a pale imitation of some of their previous encounters. The Indian shuttler got off to a bad start, losing 0-4 after the first few exchanges. However, the current world No. 13 began to dictate the tempo with her attacking strokes, as Okuhara’s famed defense continually let her down. If game one saw Sindhu take charge after a slow start, game two saw Okuhara entirely lose her radar as errors piled up from her racket, comfortably missing the lines on either side of the court.
Sindhu’s victory meant that the 28-year-old Indian went ahead 10-9 in the head-to-head against Okuhara, having lost at the World Championships recently in straight games. Remembering multiple of our epic matches over the years, Sindhu wrote on Instagram following her victory. Things can be tough at times, but there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel, my girl. Keep battling, and I’ll continue to cheer for you, she added.
Sindhu’s next Super 500 match is against Wen Chi Hsu of Chinese Taipei, whom she defeated in the Hangzhou Asian Games. Aakarshi Kashyap, who defeated Lianne Tan of Germany 21-18, 20-22, 18-21, also advanced to the round of 16. Tanisha Crasto and Sai Pratheek advanced to the second round of mixed doubles. Malvika Bansod, on the other hand, was defeated 10-21, 5-21 by Supanida Katethong.
Meanwhile, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, the famous Indian men’s doubles team, reached the No.1 ranking in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Rankings on Tuesday, becoming the country’s first tandem to accomplish so. Following their gold medal win in the men’s doubles category at the recently finished Asian Games in Hangzhou, the star duo jumped two places to take the top spot. They defeated South Korea’s Choi Sol-Gyu and Kim Won-ho 21-18, 21-16 in the summit clash, and won India’s first-ever gold in badminton at the continental event. After Prakash Padukone, Saina Nehwal, and Kidambi Srikanth, they are the fourth Indians to achieve the top ranking.
