PV Sindhu’s quest for a historic third Olympic medal will start on Sunday on the Porte de la Chapelle Enviornment in Paris.
A spate of accidents and detached type has crippled Sindhu’s rhythm within the lead-up to her third Video games, eight years after she bagged a coveted silver to change into solely the second Indian shuttler after Saina Nehwal to clinch an Olympic medal. A bronze in Tokyo 2021 elevated her right into a choose group of Indian particular person a number of medalists. A podium end in Paris will propel her into uncharted territory – doubtlessly the primary Indian with three particular person medals. Having been out of motion for some time after a knee damage final October, Sindhu’s 2024 season shows 15 wins to 9 defeats, together with a loss within the Malaysia Masters ultimate in Could.
A title has eluded her since her gold medal triumph on the 2022 Commonwealth Video games in Birmingham. Seeded tenth within the ladies’s singles in Paris, Sindhu’s group-stage draw gives her an early cushion earlier than larger challenges emerge on a doubtlessly stifling streak.
He Bing Jiao (CHN)
Slotted in Group M, Sindhu is not going to be ruffled by World No. 75 Kristin Kuuba from Estonia in her first outing. She’s going to then tackle Maldives’ Fathimath Nabaaha Abdul Razzaq, ranked 111th on the earth, an opponent she trumped within the Spherical of 32 on the 2022 Commonwealth Video games.
The 29-year-old’s first distinct hurdle would be the Spherical of 16 when she’s going to doubtless go up in opposition to China’s He Bingjiao in a possible rematch of their Tokyo Olympics bronze-medal contest which Sindhu received comfortably 21-13, 21-15. Nonetheless, Bingjiao received their final assembly on the 2022 Asian Video games, and the southpaw holds an 11-9 document over Sindhu of their neck-and-neck tussle through the years.
Chen Yu Fei (CHN)
Streaks might be on a collision course if Sindhu overcomes Bingjiao to arrange a gathering together with her Chinese language compatriot Chen Yu Fei within the quarter-final (supplied no upsets). Whereas the Indian famous person has not misplaced a match to any Chinese language shuttler on the Olympics and the World Championships, Yufei enters the Video games in red-hot type. The defending Olympic Champion received the Indonesia Open earlier this month, beating World No. 1 An Se-young within the ultimate.
Although Sindhu had held a superior document of their early rivalry, even securing successive World Championships semi-final wins in 2017 and 2019, Yufei has responded with three consecutive wins since late 2019, tying the overalls at six wins apiece. Sindhu had her moments of their quarter-final skirmish on the French Open in March on the Olympic venue. Nonetheless, the relentless Yufei prevailed after one hour and 32 minutes of their longest tie throughout 9 years. Sindhu can take coronary heart from that efficiency although and among the many potential opponents from remainder of the highest 4, Yufei was maybe Sindhu’s finest guess for a quarterfinal win.
Carolina Marin (ESP)
Even when Sindhu summons her invincible self to flip a lowly 2024 right into a vigorous season on the again of beating two Chinese language heavyweights, she may inevitably run into Carolina Marin, her endlessly arch nemesis, within the semi-finals. Marin has labored nearly like a kryptonite for Sindhu through the years with an 11-5 document; their 2016 Olympics ultimate being one amongst a number of chapters that shared the identical story.
After a more in-depth head-to-head document earlier of their careers, the fourth-seeded Spaniard has trounced Sindhu in every of their final six conferences, relationship again to the 2018 World Championships ultimate. Sindhu, nevertheless, would encourage some confidence from their earlier face-off on the Singapore Open in Could the place she practically pulled off a comeback win earlier than slipping 22-20 within the decisive recreation. However ought to Sindhu attain the semifinals, she’s going to at the very least be assured a shot at a medal match the very least.