PV Sindhu defeated China's He Bing Jiao in the bronze medal match, to become the first Indian woman to win two individual Olympic medals.
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Indian badminton star PV Sindhu has scripted history by becoming the first woman from the nation to win two individual Olympic medals. Sindhu defeated Chinese shuttler He Bing Jiao by a 21-13, 21-15 margin to win the bronze medal in the women’s singles event of the ongoing Tokyo Olympics. The 26-year-old is now the second Indian after Sushil Kumar to win medals in two consecutive editions of the premier competition. This makes her the first female from the nation to record the unique distinction. Sindhu maintained a cool, calm and collected approach in the first game, maintaining her natural approach. This left Bing Jiao unsettled, with the Chinese shutter conceding easy points.
The second game witnessed more competition, with the scoreline quite level at 12-11 at the interval. However, Sindhu pushed hard after the game resumed, pulling off a solid win when it mattered the most.
The Indian badminton star had suffered a defeat against World No.1 Tai Tzu-Ying by a 18-21, 12-21 margin in the women’s singles semi-final on Saturday. Tzu-Ying reached the final of the event, in a massive boost to the hopes of fans back home.
The Indian shuttler went into the mid-game interval of the first clash, holding the lead following a 11-8 scoreline. While Sindhu maintained a great defence, Tzu-Ying made her presence felt with some excellent crosscourt net shots. However, the World No 1 made a stunning comeback after the game resumed, leaving the Indian with no room for capitalising upon mistakes. Tzu-Ying maintained her supremacy, pulling off a 18-21 triumph against the odds.
The second game saw the Taiwanese grab control from the starting, with both players guilty of making more mistakes. Tzu-Ying however maintained her composure in a better manner, taking a 7-11 lead at the interval. The Taiwanese continued to push hard after taking the lead, stretching the game till a 12-21 scoreline. With 8 match points in hand, the encounter was virtually done and dusted which Tzu-Ying converted into reality by scoring off the first match point.
Sindhu defeated Akane Yamaguchi of Japan by a 21-13, 22-20 margin in the women’s singles quarter-final. The former started the first game on a dominant note, leading 11-7 at the interval. While the first few points witnessed a little bit of passiveness from Sindhu, she quickly switched tactics to race ahead. Yamaguchi did not help her cause by making a number of errors, struggling with the drift going down the court from her end.
Sindhu maintained the lead after the game resumed, seeming absolutely unfazed which has been one of the highlights of her campaign so far. The Indian had all the right answers to Yamaguchi’s moves, mixing aggression with excellent defensive skills. The Japanese shuttler won two spectacular points towards the end of the first game, but Sindhu maintained her dominance winning the first game by a 21-13 margin.
The Indian badminton star maintained the supremacy initially in the second game, taking a 10-5 lead. Sindhu further maintained a relentless attitude, stretching the dominance in scoreline to 14-8. However, Yamaguchi made a soaring comeback in this scenario, bouncing back with aplomb to make it 15-13.
It was a close contest from this stage as both shuttlers battled it out for supremacy. Yamaguchi led 20-18 at one point, resulting in some labelling her as a favourite for the second game. However, Sindhu pulled off a fantastic comeback to sail into the semi-finals, following a 22-20 win sealing off the contest.
The Indian shuttler earlier defeated Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt 21-15, 21-13 in the round of 16 women’s singles Badminton match. The sixth seed dominated the match against the 13th seed as she finished it in just 41 minutes.
China’s Chen Yufei defeated Tai Tzu-Ying of Chinese Taipei 21-18, 19-21, 21-18 to win gold. Yufei becomes the fifth women’s singles gold medalist from the nation, after Gong Zhichao (2000), Zhang Ning (2004, 2008) Li Xuerui (2012).
