INDIA’S women’s singles star P.V. Sindhu is out to add the Commonwealth Games individual gold to her growing medal collection.
The 2019 world champion and 2016 Rio Olympic silver medallist has surprisingly not captured gold in the quadrennial Games individual event.
In the last edition in 2018 in Gold Coast, Australia, Sindhu had to settle for silver after being denied in the final by compatriot Saina Nehwal.
She did win a gold in the mixed team event though.
The world No. 7 Sindhu is determined to finally get her hands on the individual gold this year in Birmingham.
“I really hope to win the gold this time. It will mean so much to me to represent my country at the Commonwealth Games and win,” said Sindhu.
The 26-year-old is considered the hot favourite for the title but she prefers to be cautious.
“I won’t say it will be easy for me. There are others whom I have to watch out for like Scotland’s Kirsty Gilmour, Canada’s Michelle Li, Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei and Singapore’s Yeo Jia Min. So, it’s very important for me to stay focused and be at my best,” added Sindhu.
The Indian looks good for the gold judging by her performances in the Malaysian Open so far.
She marched into the quarter-finals yesterday after overcoming a first game wobble to beat Thailand’s Phittayaporn Chaiwan 19-21, 21-9, 21-14 in the second round.
She will take on Taiwan’s world No. 2 Tai Tzu-ying today for a place in the last four.
Sindhu needs a big performance to take down the in-form Taiwanese who captured the Indonesian Open recently.
The head-to-head record is overwhelmingly in favour of Tzu-ying who has come out tops with a whopping 15 wins in their last 20 meetings.
Thus, Sindhu will need to go the extra mile to get one over Tzu-ying and further boost her confidence ahead of the Commonwealth Games.
Tzu-ying marched to a 21-11, 21-9 win over Kristin Kuuba of Estonia while her China’s Chen Yufei also stayed in the hunt with a 21-12, 21-19 win over Busanan Ongbamrungphan of Thailand.
Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand also came from the dead to snatch a 15-21, 21-12, 21-18 win over Zhang Beiwen of the United States. Also through was China’s Han Yue who stunned third seed An Se-young of South Korea 21-23, 21-18, 21-16 to reach the last eight.
