PV Sindhu vs Nozomi Okuhara Rio Women's Badminton Second Semifinal Match News

Final Score Set 2 : Sindhu 21 – 10 Okuhara (Sindhu won).

Set 1 : Sindhu 21 – 19 Okuhara.

PV Sindhu vs Nozomi Okuhara

It will be a huge match for India as PV Sindhu will carry the medal hopes for the Indian contingent in a now or never encounter against Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara.

The match is scheduled on 18^th August 2016 19:30 IST and it is all set to be a high voltage encounter and the Indian fans will be hoping to see a positive result from the ace Indian shuttler. PV Sindhu will come into this match with her morals high after upsetting the world no. 2 Wang Yihan in two straight sets. She will have to repeat the same performance once again to ensure a medal and become the first Indian ever to proceed into Badminton tournaments final at the Olympics.

Sindhu’s Opponent profiled

Nozomi Okuhara is an ace shuttler from Japan and is currently ranked sixth in the BWF world rankings. She has been on a stellar form in 2016 with a win percentage of 73. She is the junior World champion in women’s badminton and is the youngest ever player to claim a women’s single title. If rankings are considered she is definitely the easiest opponent Sindhu could have faced as the other semi final see the world number one Caroline Marin in action against the world number three Li Xuerui.

Head to Head

Sindhu’s strength, no doubt is upsetting some bigger names in the women’s badminton circuit but losing her bouts against the less fancied opponents has been her formidable weakness. Both the Semi finalists have met four times and Japanese shuttler has a better record over Sindhu as Nozomi Okuhara has lost only one encounter against PV Sindhu. This 3-1 lead will definitely give Nozomi a psychological advantage over Sindhu but this time Sindhu’s confidence will be sky high after upsetting the world number 2.

The only hope in Badminton

Saina Nehwal was the one leading the Indian Badminton hopes at the Rio Olympics after claiming a bronze medal at London four years ago, but the Indian fans were utterly disappointed when she crashed out in the group stages but PV Sindhu gave in some stellar performances to keep the medal hopes alive for India and she will have a burden of over a billon hopes to assure a medal for her country.