PV Sindhu’s bid for hat-trick of badminton medals ends after R16 loss in Paris

It was a hard day for Indian badminton in the Paris Olympics on Thursday, 1 August.

After the exits of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty and HS Prannoy, India’s most successful shuttler in the Olympic Games – PV Sindhu bowed out as well. Playing against China’s 6th seed He Bing Jiao, Sindhu faltered, losing in straight games at the La Chapelle Arena’s Court 3. This was the first time in her career that PV Sindhu was not able to bring home a medal from the Summer Games

This was the same court where Satwik-Chirag were knocked out earlier and the curse came to haunt Sindhu as well, who lost 19-21, 14-21 in 56 minutes. Sindhu was searching for her historic third medal in Paris, but was outclassed by the 6th seed on Thursday.

It was a tightly fought opening game between the Tokyo Olympic rivals. Both played to their strengths, Sindhu, using her reach to put pressure on Jiao, while her Chinese opponent brought out her full repertoire of deceptive shows and powerful smashes. Sindhu trailed at the start of the game but pulled back brilliantly by forcing Jiao into the net. Jiao, who was hitting with the wind, failed to control her pushes from the front court and conceded multiple points. The first game ran neck and neck but Jiao pulled away at the very end, attacking Sindhu with body smashes, and switching up her play with drop shots at the forehand side.