All England Open: Sindhu happy to win quarter-finals

Birmingham : Rio Olympics silver-medallist PV Sindhu has expressed her happiness after pulling off another tough win against Nozomi Okuhara of Japan and making it to the semi-finals of the USD 1000,000 All England Championship.

Sindhu emerged as the lone Indian survivor in the women’s singles category of the All England Championship, after she booked her place in the semi-finals of the tournament here on Friday.

The fourth-seed bounced back in her quarter-final clash, going down in the opening game, Sindhu ensured that she had the last laugh as she eventually swept aside Okuhara 20-22,21-18, 21-18 in a nail-biting contest that lasted for an hour and 24 minutes here at the Arena Birmingham.

Sindhu said, “It’s just like the World championships match. Having both of us know each other’s game, playing against Okuhara was not easy. We played 10 times and I won five times. We know each other’s game well, so every point was very important. I am happy that I actually fought back and won. I have to focus on recovering well for the big match tomorrow”.

“It feels great to be in the semi-finals of the All England Open,” she added.

With the win, Sindhu clinched her fifth victory over the world number six Japanese, who had also robbed the former of a gold medal at the World Championship in Glasgow.

Sindhu will now lock horns with the winner of other quarter-final clash between fifth-seed Carolina Marin of Spain and second-seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan. (ANI)