Indian shuttler PV Sindhu, aiming for her third consecutive Olympic medal, kicked off her Paris Olympics 2024 journey with an impressive straight-game victory against Maldives' Fathimath Abdul Razzaq on Sunday.
The disparity in skill level was clear as Sindhu, pursuing her third Olympic medal, needed only 29 minutes to overcome her lower-ranked opponent with a score of 21-9, 21-6 in the Group M match.
Seeded 10th, Sindhu, who secured a silver medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics and a bronze at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, is set to face world No. 75 Kristin Kuuba from Estonia in her second group match on Wednesday.
The world No 111 Fathimath was no match against the former world champion who finished the first game in a mere 13 minutes.
The second game followed a similar manner with Sindhu claiming the first four points in the blink of an eye to take an early lead.
However, Razzaq capitalised on Sindhu's error to bridge the gap to make it 3-4. But it became a one-sided contest once again as the Indian increased the gap to 10-3.
In the end, Sindhu had as many as 14 match points but the world No 13 needed only one to seal the tie.
The 10th seeded Indian, who won the silver medal in the Rio Games in 2016 and a bronze in the last edition in Tokyo, will take on World No 75 Kristin Kuuba of Estonia in her second group match on Wednesday.
(With inputs from agencies)
