India’s PV Sindhu thumped Nozomi Okuhara of Japan to enter the final of the women’s singles event of badminton competitions, assuring the country at least a silver medal at the Olympic Games here yesterday.
World No.10 Sindhu registered a 21-19, 21-10 triumph in the semi-finals over world No.6 Okuhara to become the first Indian shuttler to enter the final of the Olympics.
With this win, double World Championship bronze medallist Sindhu improved her head-to-head record against reigning All England Open champion Okuhara to 2-3.
In the final, she will face two-time reigning world champion Carolina Marin of Spain, who beat defending champion Li Xuerui of China 21-14, 21-16.
Irrespective of the colour of the medal in the final today, it will be India’s second medal in the Rio Games after wrestler Sakshi Malik bagged a bronze medal in the women’s 58kg category.
For Sindhu, who was on a giant-killing spree after dismissing two higher-ranked opponents — Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying and World No. 2 Wang Yihan of China in the pre-quarter-final and the quarter-final respectively — yesterday’s win was also an extension of her good form.
Sindhu’s height and long reach gave her a lot of advantage against the pint-sized Okuhara, who also had her right thigh strapped.

END TO LONG WAIT
On Wednesday, Malik brought an end to India’s long wait for a medal at Rio, clinching bronze in the women’s Freestyle 58kg category.
The 23-year-old from Rohtak, in Haryana, overturned a 0-5 deficit in a hectic second round to script an 8-5 victory over Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan in the bronze medal bout at the Carioca Arena 2 here.
It was a rousing display of fighting spirit and never-say-die attitude from the Indian.
Aisuluu was clearly the superior wrestler in the totally one-sided opening round, displaying impressive strength and technique to take five points and open up a formidable lead.
But Sakshi — who has previously shown a knack of staging strong comebacks — was a totally transformed grappler in the second round, taking eight consecutive points to send the sizable number of Indian fans in the stands into wild delirium.
Sakshi, who had also finished on the podium at the 2015 Asian Championships, created history by becoming the first Indian female wrestler to clinch an Olympic medal.
Kaori Icho of Japan won the gold medal in the category while Russia’s Valeria Koblova — who had defeated Sakshi in the quarter-finals — took the silver.
Earlier, Sakshi had crashed out of contention for the gold medal after a one-sided 2-9 loss to Valeria in the quarter-finals.
Sakshi, who trailed 0-1 after the first period, made a comeback in the initial minutes of the second period to go 2-1 up.
She, however, failed to maintain the lead as the Russian overpowered her with some incredible moves to take an unassailable 9-2 lead in the dying minutes.
But with Valeria later making it to the final, Sakshi qualified for the repechage round for a shot at the bronze medal.
She started her bid for the bronze in superb fashion by defeating Orkhon Purevdorj of Mongolia 12-3 in the Repechage Round 2 to move within striking distance of a medal.
In the women’s golf event, India’s Aditi Ashok carded an impressive three-under 68 to finish tied seventh after the opening round.
The 18-year-old got off to a flying start after getting a birdie on the par-four second hole before getting two more birdies on the par-five 10th and par-three 14th holes to get a 68 in a flawless round.
The Bengaluru golfer shared the spot with Lexi Thomson of the United States, Britain’s Charley Hull and the Spaniard Azahara Munoz.
Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand set the pace with a six-under 65 as she enjoyed a one-stroke lead at the top over the South Korean duo of Inbee Park and Seiyoung Kim.
It was an eventful round for Ariya, who got an eagle on the par-five fifth, alongside seven birdies against a double bogey on the par-three fourth and a bogey on the par-four 11th.