Feisty Hyderabad girl bags India's first ever Olympic silver in badminton after going down fighting to Spain's Carolina Marin 21-19, 12-21, 21-15
Rio de Janeiro: P V Sindhu’s gallant attempt to win a coveted gold medal for India ended in heart-break when she went down fighting against Spain’s Carolina Marin and settled for a silver medal in the women’s singles badminton competition at the Rio Olympics here today.
India’s PV Sindhu exults after winning the first game against Carolina Marin of Spain in Rio yesterday. Pics/Getty images
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The 21-year-old Indian, who has been simply unstoppable in the tournament so far, crumbled under the tremendous pressure created by the two-time World Champion from Spain to lose 21-19, 12-21, 15-21 in a high-intensity final that lasted for an hour and 23 minutes at the Rio centre here.
Spain’s Carolina Marin celebrates a point against India’s PV Sindhu
Sindhu thus became the fourth Indian to win a silver at the Olympics after shooters Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (2004, Athens) and Vijay Kumar (2012, London) and wrestler Sushil Kumar (2012, London). The two-time World championship bronze medallist also became the fifth woman player from India to win a medal in Olympics history and the first to clinch a silver. She is also the youngest India to win a medal at the Olympics. Weightlifter Karnam Malleshwari (2000, Sydney), boxer MC Mary Kom (2012, London), shuttler Saina Nehwal (2012, London) and wrestler Sakshi Malik (Rio, 2016) are the other women players from India to clinch a medal in the quadrennial sports spectacle. Sindhu, in fact, trailed 16-19 in the opening game before reeling off five straight points to clinch it. She was then outclassed in the second to lose it tamely. In the decider, the lanky shuttler from Hyderabad trailed 1-6 at one stage and caught up at 10-10 but could not keep the tempo after the break as Marin changed gears to surge to Spain’s first gold medal in badminton.
Awesome record
In their last five meetings in the last two years, Marin has beaten Sindhu four times with the Indian gaining an upper hand during the Denmark Super Series last year.
The hyper-aggressive Marin mixed power with precision to dominate rallies with her acute-angled smashes interspersed with clever drops to catch the Indian often on the wrong foot. Sindhu struggled with the length of her strokes as gave away many points by hitting long and wide, but she fought hard till the end only to come second best.
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