Indian badminton star PV Sindhu’s dream of winning a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games was shattered after a straight-game loss to world number one Tai Tzu Ying in the women’s singles semi-finals here on Saturday. Rio Olympic silver medalist Sindhu put up a formidable challenge in the first game against Tai Tzu but ended up losing 18-21, 12-21 in a 40-minute match. Sindhu will now take on China’s He Bing Xiao for the bronze medal, who was defeated by compatriot Chen Yu Fei 21-16, 13-21, 21-12 in the first semi-final.
Sindhu had performed brilliantly till the quarter-finals in the Olympics, but in the semi-finals she was seen struggling in front of the Chinese player. Even though Sindhu lost in the semi-finals, she can still win the next match and bring a bronze medal for the country. Now she would like to finish her Olympic journey with a medal by winning the next match.
Earlier, Ying’s winning record against Sindhu was 13-7. Sindhu had lost to Tai Tzu in the last three matches, but she managed to defeat the Taiwanese shuttler in important tournaments such as the 2016 Rio Olympics, the 2019 World Championship and the 2018 World Tour Finals.
Sitting in Hyderabad, PV Sindhu’s family was watching the semi-final match. After the match her father PV Ramana said, “It all happens when a player can’t get into the rhythm. Yesterday she was in good rhythm and came back to beat Akane Yamaguchi. Today Tai Tzu Ying asked her to come back.” No chance given.”
It was a disappointing day for Indian boxing as well as world number one Amit Panghal (52kg) followed by Pooja Rani (75kg) crashed out of the Tokyo Olympics after losing to her rival. Meanwhile, Indian shooters Anjum Moudgil and Tejaswini Sawant missed out on a place in the women’s 50m rifle 3 final. Anjum finished 15th and Tejaswini 33rd in the qualifying round.