India’s star shuttler PV Sindhu, 25, might miss a friend in Tokyo after Olympic champion Carolina Marin of Spain, who pulled out of the Games due to a knee injury, but she certainly won’t miss quality competition at the quadrennial event. And the Indian world champion Sindhu is well aware of this.

During a virtual interaction organised by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Thursday, when Sindhu was asked if Marin’s absence will make life easier for her in Tokyo, she replied: “I don’t think so. In the women’s circuit, all the players in the Top 10 are of the same standard. There is Tai Tzu Ying [World No. 1], Ratchanok [Intanon, No. 6], [No. 3 Nozomi] Okuhara and [No. 5, Akane] Yamaguchi. They are all good players. You can’t say that it will be easy if one player is missing. I cannot afford to relax and need to be focussed and give my best. Players like Tai Tzu are very tricky, while Ratchanok is very skillful.”