Tokyo Olympics: P V Sindhu beat Cheung in straight games, enter pre-quarterfinals
Tokyo: Reigning world champion P V Sindhu advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of women's singles badminton event at the Tokyo Olympics after beating Hong Kong's NY Cheung in a group J match here on Wednesday.
The 26-year-old Indian, who had claimed a silver medal in the last edition in Rio, prevailed over world No. 34 Cheung 21-9 21-16 in a 35-minute match to top the group. This was Sindhu's sixth win over Cheung in as many meetings.
World No. 7 Sindhu will meet Denmark's world number 12 Mia Blichfeldt, who topped Group I. Sindhu has a 4-1 head-to-head record against Blichfeldt, whose only win against the Indian was at the Yonex Thailand Open earlier this year.
The shuttler from Hyderabad, seeded sixth, had defeated Ksenia Polikarpova of Israel in her opening match.
Sindhu used her repertoire of strokes, and her ability to vary the pace troubled the Hong Kong player, making her run around the court. The Indian will then come up with a perfect placement.
Cheung got a few points with her deceptive cross court returns but she committed many unforced errors to have any chance of putting pressure on the Indian.
Sindhu led 6-2 early on before galloping to 10-3. She committed a rare error before entering the interval at 11-5. The Indian didn't have any trouble after resumption as she zoomed to 20-9 and pocketed the opening game when Cheung netted a return.
Cheung was looking to script an incredible turnaround in the second game as she extended the rallies and with Sindhu too struggling to control the shuttle, the duo moved 6-6 and 8-8.
Sindhu also made judgement errors before sending the shuttle wide again to hand over a slender one point advantage to her opponent.
Cheung tried to put pressure on Sindhu but the Indian wriggled out with her better strokeplay which included a few straight down the line smashes.
Sindhu moved to 19-14 before grabbing six match points but she missed the lines again and netted a shot to squander two match points before sealing it with a smash.
Later in the day, B Sai Praneeth will take on M Caljouw of Netherlands in his second and final men's singles Group D match.
On Tuesday, Indian shuttlers Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy suffered a heartbreak after they failed to qualify for the quarterfinals at the Tokyo Olympics despite winning two matches in their group.
The Indian duo had emerged victorious against the England pair of Ben Lane and Sean Vendy in their final Group A match but still missed out on qualifying for the quarterfinals after the three pairs ended with same points and games won was considered to identify the qualifiers.
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Bihar: Over 150 children fall ill after consuming 'mid-day meal' in Saharsa
Saharsa (PTI): More than 150 children were taken ill after allegedly consuming food that was part of the mid-day meal in a school in Bihar’s Saharsa district, a senior official said on Thursday.
The incident occurred at a middle school in Baluaha village of the district.
The official said that 115 children were undergoing treatment at the Sadar Hospital, while around 50 students were admitted to Mahishi Public Health Centre.
“We received information that several children fell ill after consuming the mid-day meal in Baluaha. The children were initially treated at the primary health centre, but later, many were referred to the Sadar Hospital,” Saharsa District Magistrate Deepesh Kumar told reporters.
“According to doctors, the health condition of the children has improved, but they will be kept under observation for some time. There is no need to panic. Some kids are having mild fever. They are being treated accordingly,” Kumar said.
Meanwhile, family members of some children claimed that a snake was found in the container in which cooked pulses was stored at the school.
Of the 545 students present in the school, 200 had already eaten their meals by the time the snake was spotted, and later complained of stomach ache and vomiting, they said.
Regarding the claims, the DM said food samples have been collected from the school.
“We will be able to comment on this only after the results of the tested samples arrive,” he said.
