Stories
India Blanks Kazakhstan 3-0, Sets Up Quarterfinal Clash with Japan in Asian Games Badminton
- •India's women's badminton team defeated Kazakhstan 3-0 at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, with PV Sindhu, Unnati Hooda, and Tanvi Sharma securing comfortable wins.
- •PV Sindhu (world No. 11) beat Kamila Smagulova (world No. 426) 21-7, 21-9 in 24 minutes.
- •Unnati Hooda (world No. 24) defeated Alissa Kuleshova (world No. 866) 21-7, 21-10, and Tanvi Sharma (world No. 26) beat Diana Namenova (world No. 1067) 21-5, 21-10.
- •India now faces a challenging quarterfinal against hosts Japan, who boast three top-10 singles players: Akane Yamaguchi, Tomoka Miyazaki, and Nozomi Okuhara.
- •Sindhu, a double Olympic medalist, expressed optimism about the tough match against Japan and is embracing a leadership role for the younger players at her fourth Asian Games.
Key Questions Answered
India cruised past Kazakhstan 3-0 in the women's team event at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games without dropping a single game. PV Sindhu, Unnati Hooda, and Tanvi Sharma secured comfortable straight-game victories in their respective rubbers to complete the sweep.
After defeating Kazakhstan, India set up a challenging quarterfinal clash against hosts Japan. Japan poses a stern test with three singles players ranked inside the world's top 10, including Akane Yamaguchi, Tomoka Miyazaki, and Nozomi Okuhara.
India's only previous women's team medal at the Asian Games came at Incheon in 2014. During that tournament, Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, and the doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy helped India win a bronze-medal level performance after defeating Thailand before losing to South Korea in the semifinals.
