Encore, PV Sindhu!

Rohit Mahajan

PV Sindhu is the world champion and the defending Olympics silver medallist. That, and the absence of defending champion Carolina Marin, should make her one of the favourites to win gold in Tokyo. However, things are not that simple, for much has happened since she won silver at Rio 2016 and gold at Basel 2019 World Championships.

Since badminton resumed after the Covid-induced break, her results have been rather discouraging. In the year’s first tournament, the Thailand Open, she lost in the first round to the unheralded Mia Blichfeldt, whom she had beaten four times in a row previously. At the World Tour Finals, she lost to Tai Tzu Ying and Ratchanok Intanon in the round-robin stage to be eliminated. She did reach the final of the Swiss Open but lost to her nemesis, Marin, in straight games in just 35 minutes — surrendering the second at 21-5. At the All England Open in April, she scored a thrilling victory over Akane Yamaguchi, her best match of the year. In a cat-mouse contest, Sindhu took the third game 21-19 in the quarterfinals. But then came an unexpected loss in the semifinals, to Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong, in straight games.

Since 2019, another major change has occurred — Sindhu no longer trains with national coach Pullela Gopichand, who has been the mastermind behind the rise of Indian badminton for over a decade: He was the man in charge when Saina Nehwal won bronze at London 2012 and Sindhu won silver at Rio 2016. Sindhu says all is well between the two, but her father, PV Ramana, said last year: “Gopi being the national coach cannot focus on Sindhu alone, we’ll request to have Sindhu’s sessions with Park at Suchitra Academy.” That was also the reason Saina Nehwal moved away from Gopichand a few years ago.

After parting with Gopichand, Sindhu has been training under South Korean Park Tae Sang. Under Gopichand, Sindhu became a powerful attacking player; from a quiet kid, she became a young woman with gumption, mentally tough, more willing to fight till the last point. Park has added subtlety to her game, though Sindhu has not won a title for nearly two years. Due to the pandemic and the cancellations of tournaments, the full effect of Park’s methods on Sindhu’s game is yet to be seen. Defeats to top-class players Tai Tzu Ying, Intanon and to Marin were discouraging; the win over Yamaguchi was outstanding. But there is not enough data on Sindhu — and others — this year to form a clear picture regarding her prospects.

If Sindhu makes past the group stage, she could face Denmark’s Blichfeldt — to whom she has lost only once. The challenge only gets cut-throat after that — next up could be world No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying in the quarterfinals, Akane Yamaguchi in the semifinals and China’s Chen Yufie, the top seed, in the final. Beating players of such quality in successive rounds would be immensely difficult, but no one says winning an Olympics gold is a cakewalk.

Sindhu could look five years back for inspiration: She was seeded No. 9 but beat Tai Tzu Ying, Wang Yihan, Nozomi Okuhara — all seeded higher — in consecutive matches to reach the final. She must believe she can do it again, and go a step further.

The men

B Sai Praneeth, the only Indian in men’s singles, can fly under the radar, but he is only the second Indian man to win a medal at the World Championships, with bronze at the 2019 edition. His best this year has been a quarterfinal finish at the Swiss Open. Praneeth is seeded 13th and should easily qualify for the knockouts from the group stage — then he could face Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong before the big challenge, second seed Chou Tien Chen. If Praneeth gets pas Chou, anything is possible. In men’s doubles, the pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, No. 10 in the world, have the ability to shock a top-class team on their day but they are yet to stitch together a row of such wins, which is essential to win a big title. They have got a tough draw — they are in the same four-team group as top seeds Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo and Marcus Fernaldi Gideon, and Chinese Taipei’s world No. 3 Lee Yang and Wang Chi Lin, with only two top teams progressing to the next round.

Badminton at Tokyo

Number of Gold medals: 5

2 men, 2 women

1 mixed team

Event Dates

Men: July 24 to Aug 2

Indian angle

India will be represented by only 4 players in 3 categories, down from 7 players in 4 categories at Rio 2016. PV Sindhu in women’s singles, B Sai Praneeth in men’s singles, and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy & Chirag Shetty in men’s doubles would vie for gold in Tokyo.

Schedule

Women’s singles: Group matches from July 24, knockouts from July 29, Final on Aug 2

Men’s singles: Group matches from July 24, knockouts from July 29, Final on Aug 2

Men’s doubles: Group matches from July 24, knockouts from July 29, Final on July 31

Format

Players have been divided into different groups. The top players from each group would qualify for the knockout stage.

Favourites

China topped the medal table five years at Rio, with 2 gold, but 3 other countries won gold, too. This time around, the field seems even more open in the singles categories.

India’s PV Sindhu, winner of silver in 2016, is seeded No. 6. After the group stage, she is likely to meet Mia Blichfeldt in the elimination round. Sindhu has a 4-1 record against her, the one loss coming this year in January. If she wins, Sindhu faces much bigger challenges: world No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying, No. 5 Akane Yamaguchi and then top seed Chen Yufie in final.

Tokyo would be the first Games since 2000 without Chinese legend Lin Dan. He won gold in 2008 and 2012 but did not finish on the podium in 2016.

Archery at Tokyo

Number of Gold medals: 5

2 men, 2 women

1 mixed team

Event Dates

July 23 to 31

Indian angle

Four Indian archers will be in action in Tokyo in 4 categories — Atanu Das, Pravin Jadhav and Tarundeep Rai in men’s individual and team, Deepika Kumari in women’s individual, and Atanu & Deepika will combine to form the mixed team.

Schedule

Men’s individual: Ranking round from July 23, elimination rounds from July 27, medal rounds on July 31.

Women’s individual: Ranking round from July 23, elimination rounds from July 27, medal rounds on July 31.

Men’s team: Elimination and medal rounds on July 26.

Mixed team: Elimination and medal rounds on July 24.

Format

The distance between the archer and the target is 70m.

The ranking round is also used to seed the men’s and women’s teams, and also identify 16 pairs for the mixed team event

Favourites

South Korea is the dominant force in Olympics archery, its archers winning gold in all four events staged at Rio 2016. Its women’s team has never been beaten in the Olympics since the event was introduced at Seoul 1988.