‘Sindhu can do better’
Rio de Janeiro: Indian badminton national coach Pullela Gopichand feels PV Sindhu can do much better in terms of her defensive ability as she faces world number three Nozomi Okuhara in the Olympic semifinals here on Wednesday. World number 10 Sindhu, who has a 1-3 win-loss record against Nozomi, has never beaten the Japanese since Asian Youth Under-19 Championship in 2012 and has lost on three consecutive occasions in 2014, 2015 and the last being Asian Team Championship in Hyderabad earlier in February this year. "It was good (the win against Wang Yihan) but in my book she can do a notch higher. There's of course some chances of improvement in a couple of areas," Gopichand said after Sindhu earned a hard-fought 22-20 21-19 win over world number two Wang to make the semis. "She's been inconsistent a few times and squandered leads but I think it's part of her learning experience. She's still young, and has age on her side. I think she's a great fighter with great work ethic," Gopichand said about the 21-year-old Indian.
Tintu fails to qualify
Rio de Janeiro: Despite clocking her season's best timing, double lap runner Tintu luka finished sixth in the 800 metre heats at the Rio Olympics here on Wednesday. Tintu started off well but her strategy backfired to finish with a timing of 2:00.58 minutes in Heat 3. Tintu finished overall 29th in the qualification round. The qualification round was topped by Canada's Melissa Bishop followed by Marina Arzamasova of Belarus and Habitam Alemu of Ethiopia respectively at second and third spots.