PV Sindhu beat Spain’s Carolina Marin 21-17 in her third match of the BWF World Super Series Final in Dubai on Friday. Interestingly, Sindhu lost to Marin at the Rio 2016 Olympics final, disappointing a billion people. With this over Marin, the Sindhu settled scores with a comprehensive win over the Rio 2016 gold medallist.
Before this match, Marin led the head-to-head count between the two 5-3, but Sindhu has now reduced the gap to just one with the latest win. The Indian shuttler has been in good form after the Olympics, and would like to continue with her winning run in the tournament.
Pressure was on Sindhu ahead of this match as she needed a win to stay alive in the competition. She lost her second Group B match to China’s Sun Yu on Thursday and a loss to Marin would have ended her road in the ongoing World Super Series Final.
After pocketing the opening game 21-17, Sindhu dominated the second too and opened up a big lead early in the contest. After taking the lead, she stuck to her game and kept piling pressure on the Spanish shuttler. Marin was not going down without a fight and the no.1 shuttler stepped up in the second half of the second game. She found some decent winners to narrow Sindhu’s lead but the Indian had enough points in her kitty to avoid any panic in the middle. The win keeps Sindhu alive and it will now come down to her next match, and some permutation and combinations before she advances in Dubai.
