Kristen Kuuba: Everything you need to know about PV Sindhu's final group stage opponent at the Paris Olympics

Kristen Kuuba will be the final shuttler that PV Sindhu faces in the group stage matches at the Paris Olympics. The two will battle each other on Wednesday, July 31, with the latter going into the match a heavy favorite for the win.

Kuuba began playing badminton as a seven-year-old and used to play both singles and doubles before turning her focus to the former in 2016. Two years after she decided to zero in on the singles event, the Estonian won her first senior international title, claiming gold at the 2018 Latvia International. Later that same year, she was crowned champion at the Lithuanian International.

Kuuba was chosen to represent Estonia in the women's singles at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and lost out in the group stage matches. At the end of that year, the shuttler chose to move to Denmark to train at the Peter Gade Academy.

Her move paid off and within a year of practicing under the former Olympic champion, her ranking skyrocketed to 39, making her the first female player from her country to breach the top 40 mark.

In 2023, Kristin Kuuba won the Denmark Masters, finished as a runner-up at the Scottish Open as well as the Estonia International, and made quarterfinal appearances at the Slovenia Yonex Open, the 2023 European Games, the Irish Open, and the Welsh International Badminton Championships.

Kristen Kuuba at the Paris Olympics

Despite an otherwise shaky 2024 that has seen her make four consecutive first-round exits, Kristen Kuuba hasn't run into any trouble so far at the Paris Olympics. The Estonian has been in action only once, playing Fathimath Nabaaha Abdul Razzaq. She beat the Maldivian 21-7, 21-9 in just over 30 minutes.

Now, Kuuba will take on PV Sindhu and will go into the match very much the underdog even after her dominant win over Razzaq.

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