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On Day 13, Sindhu bids for second medal for India

Last updated on: August 18, 2016 17:03 IST

PV Sindhu

IMAGE: India's P V Sindhu celebrates after defeating Yihan Wang of China in the quarter-finals of the women's singles at the Rio Olympics on Tuesday. Photograph: Elsa/Getty Images.

A day after unheralded grappler Sakshi Malik opened India's medal count with a dramatic bronze-winning effort, shuttler P V Sindhu is all set to further showcase Indian women's capabilities at the Olympic on Thursday.

'Sindhu has the surprise factor'

The scene must have been highly inspiring for all and sundry watching it at the stadium here or the millions glued in front of TV sets at home, and would act as the perfect shot-in-the-arm for Sindhu as she prepares to take on Japan's Nokomo Okuhara in the women's singles semi-finals.

Sindhu remains the country's lone medal hope in the badminton event after Kidambi Srikanth suffered a fighting loss against two-time defending champion Lin Dan in the men's singles quarter-finals on day 12 on Wednesday.

Sindhu scripted a stellar 22-20, 21-19 win against former world number one and London Games silver medalist Wang Yihan to enter the women's semi-finals.

A win against Japan's Okuhara in the semi-final will assure Sindhu of at least a silver, that would be only the second medal for India at the Games.

There's also the case of freestyle grappler Narsingh Yadav which is to come up before the Court of Arbitration for Sports during the day. Narsingh was handed a clean chit by the National Anti-Doping Agency just before the Games began following a positive drug test in June. The NADA's report has been challenged by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Hope floats and dreams come true. So here is hoping for a positive day for Indian athletes at the Games on Day 13.

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