Double Olympic medallist shuttler P.V. Sindhu made short work of the lesser-known Fatima Nabaaha Abdul Razzaq of Maldives 21-9, 21-6 in a women’s singles Group-M match at the La Chapelle Arena here on Sunday.
Living up to her reputation, Sindhu dispatched Fatima in less than half-an hour to begin her third Olympics journey in style.
The Indian and her opponent were a class apart and the scoreline reflected it. Sindhu displayed her fine array of shots to leave Fatima bamboozled. The Indian gave away some points because of errors at the line and the net, but the wayward Maldivian could not capitalise on it and lost the first game in 13 minutes.
The second game also continued in a similar way, as Fatima looked clueless against some of Sindhu’s shots, before the Indian completed the formalities.
“It was a good start and I was getting used to the court, getting used to the atmosphere. Overall, the way I play has not changed, but there are some add-ons...initially I was a bit injured, so I was not moving really well on court,” said Sindhu, who is being guided by the legendary Prakash Padukone.
“We worked on that, we worked on strokes, not only just net or defence, but I would say overall because when you come to a big tournament, you need to be at your 100 per cent in every stroke and every movement.”
Sindhu will play Estonia’s Kristin Kuuba in her next group engagement on Wednesday.
