P V Sindhu scripted history by entering the final of the women's badminton singles in Rio Olympics and assured herself and India of a silver medal on Thursday. And Twitter was quick to applaud
PV Sindhu makes history, becomes 1st Indian shuttler to enter Olympic final
Shuttler PV Sindhu scripted history on Thursday night in Rio by becoming the first Indian badminton player to enter the final at the Olympics.
She achieved the phenomnal feat after crushing Nozomi Okuhara of Japan 21-19, 21-10 in the semi-finals of the women's singles event of badminton at the Rio Olympics.
ADVERTISEMENT
The 21-year-old defeated her short-statured, third-seeded Japanese rival, the current All England champion, 21-19 21-10 in 49 minutes with superb, attacking play to enter tomorrow's gold medal clash.
India's Pusarla V. Sindhu reacts after winning her match at the Riocentro stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Pic/AFP
The Indian shuttler from Hyderabad, a two-time bronze medalist in world championships, will meet Spain's Carolina Marin who ousted defending champion Li Xuerei of China in the first semi-final 21-14 21-16.
Sindhu has now assured India of its second medal at the Rio Games.
The World No 10 beat all higher ranked opponents on her way to the final. She beat Glasgow Commonwealth Games champion Li Michelle -- though the Canadian was ranked 20th in the world -- to enter the round of 16, where she defeated World No 8 Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taipei. In the quarters, she outclassed World No 2 Wang Yihan of China in straight games and the semis saw her beat the World No. 6.
But she faces her toughest opponent in the World no. 1 in the final contest.
The 21-year-old will have the privilege of becoming the first Indian woman and first badminton player to win a gold or silver in the Olympics.
Sindhu is also set to become the fifth Indian woman to win a Olympic medal after Karnam Malleswari, Mary Kom, Saina Nehwal and Sakshi Malik.
This will also be the second ever badminton medal after Saina Nehwal took the bronze in the same event in London 2012 Games.