August 19, 2015
RIO DE JANEIRO – World No. 10 P.V. Sindhu of India on Friday lost to World No.1 Carolina Marin of Spain, 21-19, 12-21, 15-21, in the final match of women’s singles badminton at Rio Olympic Games.
August 19, 2015
RIO DE JANEIRO – World No. 10 P.V. Sindhu of India on Friday lost to World No.1 Carolina Marin of Spain, 21-19, 12-21, 15-21, in the final match of women’s singles badminton at Rio Olympic Games.
PV Sindhu during the women's single badminton final match against Spain's Carolina Marin at Rio Olympic Games on Friday. Photo: Reuters
Sindhu has secured the silver medal, the best performance for an Indian shuttler at the Olympic Games.
Sindhu started strong, winning the first game 21-19 in 27 minutes, but Marin came back strongly to pull back the second game 21-12 in 22 minutes.
Early in the third game, Marin showed why she is the top-ranked women’s singles player in the world and raced to a 6-1 lead. Sindhu forced a wide smash from Marin and broke the momentum for the Spaniard. She moved on to win the next two points. But a lapse of judgement gave the Spaniard the service back and she led 7-3.
Pusarla Venkata Sindhu was born to PV Ramana and P Vijaya – both former volleyball players – on July 5, 1995. In 2000, Ramana was awarded Arjuna Award for his sport. Though her parents played professional volleyball, Sindhu chose badminton over it because she drew inspiration from the success of Pullela Gopichand, the 2001 All England Open Badminton Champion. She eventually started playing badminton from the age of eight.
On the sidelines, coach P. Gopichand seemed like a ball of nervous energy rocking back and forth in his chair and muttering something under his breath.
Sindhu, five points adrift minutes earlier, squared the third game at 10-all.
Points kept changing hands thick and fast. At one point the Spaniard led 16-12 but Sindhu kept clawing back and won the next two points. A long rally followed but Marin stretched her lead again 17-14. She went on winning the points and finished the third game 21-15 in about 30 minutes.
The match had a delayed start and the Spaniard looked aggressive from the very beginning. Although Sindhu took an early lead of 2-1, the Spaniard came back in order to take a 11-6 lead. The Spaniard was aggressive, confident, covering the court with amazing speed and screaming in between points. Sindhu looked under pressure and trailed to 18-16.
Marin looked confident but Sindhu was determined. She met all of Marin’s trademark scream with her own. In the end she won five points on the trot to take the first game 21-19
Sindhu lost the momentum in the start of the second game going down 0-4. Spanish fans were cheering Marin up. One commentator said she thought Sindhu will be content just winning a medal but she is not. And it is incredible.
India, India chants were on the rise at the Riocentro-Pavilion 4 and Sindhu was trying to gain some momentum but the Spanish player seemed unstoppable in the second game, going up 11-2.
Sindhu won the next three points to bring the score to 5-11. Sindhu kept fighting back through the “let’s go India, let’s go” chants but lost the game 21-12 eventually.
Earlier in the day, World No. 6 Nozomi Okuhara of Japan won the bronze medal after her opponent, World No. 3 Li Xuerui of China, pulled out of the match due to an injury.
Courtesy: LiveMint
