Tokyo Olympics 2020: Predicting PV Sindhu's chances of winning 2nd medal at Summer Games

India's star shuttler PV Sindhu is all geared up to represent her country in Tokyo Olympics 2020. One of the only two Indian badminton players to have ever won an Olympic medal, Sindhu etched her name in history after she became the first female athlete from India to win a silver medal at Rio Olympics 2016, second after Saina Nehwal's 2012 Olympic bronze win. For Tokyo 2020, the nation is once again looking up to its ace shuttler to help India win its first gold in Badminton. Here are PV Sindhu's prospects and top competitors in this year's Tokyo Olympics. 

PV Sindhu's chances of winning an Olympic medal

In the 2016 Rio Olympics, facing Spanish shuttler Carolina Marin, Sindhu fell 21-15 during the deciding game to bag silver. While the then two-time World Champion and World No.1 Carolina Marin proved to be a formidable competitor, this year the defending champion is missing in action due to a knee injury. While the absence of Marin does make Sindhu a leading contender for an Olympic medal, it does not guarantee her an easy pass. 

When it comes to her competition this season, two of Sindhu's biggest rivals are China's Taipei’s Tai Tzu-Ying and China's Chen Yufei. In the 2016 Rio Olympics, Sindhu had triumphed over Tai Tzu-Ying 21-13, 21-15 which had helped her move to the semi-final where she had fallen to Marin. For Tokyo 2020, Tai Tzu-Ying will be looking to make a comeback and avenge her 2016 loss to Sindhu. Another major hurdle in Sindhu's dash to gold is 23-year-old power player Chen Yufei. In 2019, the Indian shuttler had suffered her second successive defeat at the BWF Finals in Guangzhou at the hands of Yufei.

Japan also has a strong badminton contingent and the home country is looking to feature two power players--Akane Yamaguchi and Nozomi Okuhara against PV Sindhu. Yamaguchi is one of the most familiar opponents of the 2016 Rio silver medallist. Out of 18 matches between the duo, Sindhu has won on 11 occasions, with the most recent win at the All England Open 2021 where a thriller ended in the Indian shuttler's favour for 16-21, 21-16, 21-19.

PV Sindhu's recent performances 

Following her Olympic title, in 2017 Sindhu won a silver medal at the BWF World Championships and a year later she reached the final of the 2018 World Championships, becoming the first shuttler in the world to reach the finals of three successive major events. The same year, she also made history to be the first Indian to win the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals tournament in Guangzhou, China. At the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Sindhu won gold in the mixed team event and a silver medal in the women's singles event. 

When it comes to her recent feats, the 25-year-old had returned to playing her first final in 18 months in March 2021 at the Swiss Open. However, she finished a distant second-best after being completely routed by her Olympic rival Carolina Marin in a one-sided women's singles title clash. Here she suffered a 12-21 5-21 defeat in the final that lasted only 35 minutes. Sindhu also went down without a fight against Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong in the All-England semifinals in March.

Since then, however, the ace shuttler has been practising hard on improving her weak defence. India's foreign coach Park Tae-sang in a recent interview with PTI noted that working her defence and endurance could strongly aid Sindhu in bringing India its first gold in badminton in Tokyo 2020.