Terming P.V. Sindhu’s upset victory over London Olympics gold medallist Li Xuerui of China as a “big win”, India’s national coach Pullela Gopichand was pleased to see the young shuttler playing an attacking game against her fancied opponent on Friday.
“She was good in the court and she moved well. She played an attacking game and retrieved quite a lot of shuttles at the net,” Gopichand told PTI after Sindhu’s exploits at the Li Ning China Masters Super Series.
“It is a big win,” he added.
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World number 24 Sindhu won 21-19 9-21 21-16 in a tense 45-minute contest against the world number three and second seeded Chinese, and the coach felt that she managed to do well despite facing a few problems on the court.
“In the first game, she had opened up a lead and she had won it comfortably. But there was a lot of drift in the court and she was finding it very difficult in the middle game to control the shuttle. However, she was leading throughout the match,” said Gopichand.
The 17-year-old Sindhu came into the quarterfinal high on confidence after beating world number 14 Porntip Buranaprasertsuk of Thailand, and is now ready to take on fourth seed Yanjiao Jiang of China in the last-four stage of the Super Series tournament.
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Gopichand expressed hope that Sindhu would continue her winning run in the semifinal, though she will again be up against a strong opponent.
“She is playing Yanjiao Jiang. It will be a tough match but she is playing well, so let’s see...,” said Gopichand.