Rio de Janeiro: P. V. Sindhu scripted history by becoming the first Indian shuttler to reach the final of the women’s singles completion at the Rio Olympics as she stunned Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara in straight games here on Thursday to assure India of at least a silver medal. She wrapped up the first set by securing the last two points after having lost a 45-stroke rally! A win will ensure a medal for Sindhu.
Advertisement
India are struggling at Rio, collecting only won bronze medal so far. If you play really well you will automatically win the game, and a medal.
Lets hope and Wish Sindhu a Good Luck in her game and against Carolina Marin in the Finals. On this day, she rose to the occasion superbly.
Okuhara started the second game the stronger of the two and looked to be taking this into a decider.
This was it. Sindhu knew that her opponent had run out of steam.
In the final game, Srikanth fought a toothand- nail battle.
Later, Sindhu took a 15-12 lead that became 17-14 but Okuhara’s net game helped her nearly reduce the deficit.
Sindhu wore out Yihan with long rallies and waited to seize an opportunity. Thus, Okuhara’s usual low unforced error rate still hurt her campaign to pull up square or ahead when it really counted.
Away from this sordid drama that was acted out at a four-hour hearing before the grappler was not only thrown out of the Games but also banned for four years, the attention of the entire country would remain focused on Sindhu in her quest for a rare individual gold in Olympics. This year she has a win-loss record of 21-8, also capturing the All-England open in March, one of the most prestigious tournaments on the circuit.
Plus, we’ve had icons in the sport for over a generation now – Prakash Padukone, Syed Modi, Vimal Kumar, Aparna Popat, Sindhu’s coach Pullela Gopichand, and Gopichand’s other protegee, Saina Nehwal. Not so against the Japanese shuttler, because of the height difference, a narrative that had been played out in the media before the match. “In the Olympics I have played really well it’s just that I couldn’t finish off the match my way, I was actually dominating”, he said, while disappearing in the “athletes only” zone.
Sindhu has upset Yihan multiple times in the last couple of years, notably at the World Championship (2014) and the Denmark Open (2015); so this win over Yihan wasn’t beyond her reach.
In 2013, Sindhu truly came into her own.
She won the first three games in straight games. However, in a stunning reversal of fortunes, controversial male wrestler Narsingh was ousted from the Games and slapped with a four-year ban for flunking a dope test after Court of Arbitration for Sports overturned the clean chit given to him by the National Anti-Doping Agency. However, Okuhara came back strongly with some brilliant defensive play to make it 5-5.
Advertisement
The other semifinal will be between the third seed Li Xuerui of China and world champion Carolina Marin of Spain.
