Hello and welcome to Sportstar’s Live coverage of the Tokyo Olympics Badminton semifinal between PV Sindhu vs Tai Tzu-Ying at the Musashino Forest Plaza Court 1.
- Right then we are all set for a Super Saturday, a blockbuster on the cards as it’s PV Sindhu vs Tai Tzu-Ying in the women’s singles semifinal
- We are just an hour away from the start of play and it will be a tight contest
- The second semifinal will be played between China’s Chen Yufei and He Bing Jiao.
- The losers of the semifinals will contest the bronze medal match
- The winners will play the final gold medal match on Sunday
PV Sindhu to face Tai Tzu Ying in semifinals at Tokyo Olympics
The fight against Yamaguchi
With monstrous smashes, lung-exhausting rallies and the deftest of disguised drop shots, P. V. Sindhu posted a gritty win over Akane Yamaguchi in an epic encounter. Sindhu’s 21-13, 22-20 victory propelled her into the semifinals, where she will meet her long-time rival, the second-seed Tai Tzu Ying.
The results:
Women singles (quarterfinals): Chen Yufie (Chn) bt An Se Young (Kor) 21-18, 21-19; He Bingjiao (Chn) bt Nozomi Okuhara (Jpn) 13-21, 21-13, 21-14; P. V. Sindhu bt Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) 21-13, 22-20; Tai Tzu Ying (Tpe) bt Ratchanok Intanon (Tha) 14-21, 21-18, 21-18.
Mixed doubles (final): Wang Yi Lyu and Huang Dong Ping (Chn) bt Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong (Chn) 21-17, 17-21, 21-19; (for bronze medal): Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino (Jpn) bt Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet (Hkg) 21-17, 23-21.
Men’s doubles (semifinals): Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin (Tpe) bt Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan (Ina) 21-11, 21-10; Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen (Chn) bt Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik (Mas) 24-22, 21-13.
“I’m happy but it’s not over yet. For me it’s time to go back, relax and get ready for the next match. I’m happy but I need to prepare for the next match. There were some very long rallies. The second game was very important, I was leading and Akane came back — so I couldn’t relax. On my side there were a few errors. I wasn’t nervous even though she was at game point, my coach was saying: ‘It’s okay, keep the focus and you’ll get there’. He was constantly supporting me and that got me by and I’m happy I got back in two games,” Sindhu to BWF after quarterfinal victory.