Basel: Badminton world champion PV Sindhu reached the final of the Swiss Open Super 300 tournament with a 22-20, 21-10 win over Denmark's Mia Blichfeldt. Sindhu will now face Spanish Olympic champion Carolina Marin in the final. This is the Olympic silver medallist's first final since she won the World Championships title in August 2019.
"Am happy that I am through to the finals. It's has been a good win today for me, and playing against Mia was a kind of a revenge I would say because in Thailand I had lost against her. So, this win was very important for me," Sindhu said in quotes tweeted by the Sports Authority of India (SAI).
"Really looking forward to the finals. Carolina is a good player, so it won't be an easy match. I have to play my 100 per cent," she further said.
Leaving the Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad and practicing at the Gachibowli Stadium, also in the city, has paid rich dividends, said Sindhu.
"Training in bigger stadium similar to this stadium as I got used to it and it has helped me a lot here (sic). I would once thank everyone, BAI [Badminton Association of India], SAI [Sports Authority of India], Telengana state, and sports minister for all the support and helping me with whatever I needed for training and preparation at the Gachibowli Stadium," she said.
Top seed Marin, meanwhile, beat Thai third seed Pornapwee Chochuwong 21-15, 20-22, 21-19 to reach the final. She is chasing her fourth consecutive title, having won the two Thailand Open tournaments and the BWF World Tour Finals in January.
The Swiss Open is the first tournament that falls within the restructured qualification period for the Tokyo Olympics which will be held from July 23 this year. The qualification period ends on June 15 and, with the top 16 on the world rankings gaining automatic qualification, the seventh-ranked Sindhu is well-placed to make it to the quadrennial event.
Meanwhile, Kidambi Srikanth could not get past Denmark's world No.1 Viktor Axelsen in the men's singles semi-finals. Srikanth lost 13-21, 19-21 in a match that lasted 41 minutes. Second seeded men's doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost 16-21, 21-23 in their semi-final tie as well.