PV Sindhu walks away with silver, becomes first Indian shuttler to reach Asian Games finals

In what can be termed as a historic win, 23-year-old PV Sindhu has become the first Indian shuttler to reach the finals of the badminton event at the Asian Games held in Indonesia. She lost the gold to her Chinese counterpart and World No. 1, Tai Tzu Ying. Previously, Syed Modi's bronze in men's singles at the 1982 Games in New Delhi was the only individual medal for India at the Asian Games.

With Sindhu's win, India's total medal tally is 44 and the country is at the ninth position.

In a nail-biting finale, Sindhu lost the game (13-21, 16-21) and settled for a silver. In the semi-finale, she defeated world number three Akane Yamaguchi by 21-17 15-21 21-10 for her second win over the Japanese, says NDTV.

With two of the Indian shuttlers and Olympic medalist, PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal, playing at the tournament, India was hoping for a gold. Saina Nehwal, however, settled with a bronze, increasing India's individual medal count.

Sindhu, who clinched silver in the last Rio Olympics, will be facing the world’s number one ranked Chinese Taipei’s, Tai Tzu Ying. Sindhu paved the way to the finals after defeating Akane Yamaguchi of Japan 21-17, 15-21, 21-10 in a match that lasted 65 minutes.

At the semi-final, Sindhu had a slow start against her opponent Yamaguchi whose strikes were quite heavy. In just a short span of time, Sindhu recovered and came back with her strikes and finally defeated Yamaguchi. With a grip that ensured Sindhu’s lead took the score to 11-8 at the first break. Yamaguchi’s wide hit at 20-17 couldn’t fetch him the lead as Sindhu took over with a closing shot of the game at 21-17. In the second set, Sindhu was leading at 10-6, but Yamaguchi’s strong comeback helped her close the set at 21-15 with Sindhhu’s forehand wide shot.

The third set witnessed an impressive show put up by Sindhu, as she bagged four points in a row, which helped her reach 7-3. The score had gone to 11-7 lead prior to the break. She also won a 50-shot rally that shot the score to 16-8. After which with no error to pull her back she made her way to the finals after a 65-minute long game, says The Quint.

Also read: The hawaldar who guarded the nation at Siachen is now representing India in 300m standard rifle at the Asian Games

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