Carolina Marin became the first European woman to win badminton gold at the Olympics by beating Pusarla V Sindhu in a thrilling final on Friday.
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The reigning World Champion was put through her paces by the ninth-seeded Indian, but ultimately prevailed 19-21, 21-12, 21-15.
In the first set, Sindhu was down 16-19 at one point and but fought back strongly to take the set 21-19.
Sindhu settled for the silver medal.
Coach Fernando Rivas and mind trainer Pablo del Rio had played a big part in building Carolina as a champion and she heartily thanked them for her achievement.
Sindhu had a poor start and was trailing 6-11 against Marin in the first game but the Indian showed resilience and made a stunning comeback.
“I m a little Spaniard that broke the Asian world”.
“She didn t want to change the shuttle because she wanted me to lose focus”, left-hander Marin said of her opponent. She recorganised her game and executed her strokes with power and levelled the score at 10-10 all after 13 minutes of play. “It was her day on centre court today”.
The 21-year-old Sindhu has joined shooters Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Vijay Kumar, and wrestler Sushil Kumar, as India’s only individual Olympic silver medallists.
Sindhu has now become the second Indian player in badminton to win an Olympic medal after Saina Nehwal, who had clinched bronze in London four years ago.
“I am very happy, and I hope this success continues”, said Gopi after Sindhu went down to Spain’s Carolina Marin to win the silver medal. Immediately after the game, I told her, don’t think we have lost a match, but that we have won a medal. This is India’s first Silver and second medal at Rio 2016. When it came to the final I thought ‘I just have one match to go. Right now, PV Sindhu is standing tall and strong in her way to the winning place.
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And try Sindhu did, playing her heart out but ultimately bowing to a better athlete, the world’s number one player known as the “Rafel Nadal of badminton” in Spain.
