Nagoya, Sept. 20 -- India cruised past a lowly-ranked Kazakhstan 3-0 in the women's team event at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games here on Sunday, setting up a challenging quarterfinal against hosts Japan.
At the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium, Indian stalwart PV Sindhu, Unnati Hooda, and Tanvi Sharma completed a comfortable sweep without dropping a game. Sindhu, ranked 11th in the world, needed 24 minutes to beat Kamila Smagulova 21-7, 21-9 in the opening rubber. Kazakhstan's top woman shuttler Kamila's BWF world ranking is a lowly 426.
The world No. 24 Unnati then breezed past Alissa Kuleshova (WR 866) 21-7, 21-10 in 22 minutes, before the world No. 26 Tanvi Sharma sealed the tie even quicker, defeating Diana Namenova (WR 1067) 21-5, 21-10.
But the road from here is set to be a difficult affair for India,
who had returned empty-handed from Hangzhou Asian Games 2023 after losing to Thailand in quarters.
Japan promises a far sterner test, with the hosts boasting three singles players inside the world's top 10 -- Akane Yamaguchi (No. 3), Tomoka Miyazaki (No. 7) and Nozomi Okuhara (No. 10).
Hence, the likely singles match-ups could see Sindhu face Yamaguchi, while Unnati take on Miyazaki, and India's women's doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand could face Japan's world No. 3 combination of Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto.
India's top shuttler Sindhu is optimistic.
"We have a good team, and Japan also is a good, strong team, so it's going to be a tough one," said the Indian double Olympic medalist.
"Each match is important and it is going to be a good match, so hoping for the best, and I hope we win."
Making her fourth Asian Games appearance, the 31-year-old Sindhu who has a team bronze and individual silver, is also taking up a leadership role.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.