India’s campaign in the women’s singles badminton at the 19th Asian Games ended on Thursday morning with two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu losing to her old nemesis He Bing Jiao of China in a quarterfinal clash at the Badminton Stadium in Binjiang Gymnasium in Hangzhou.
Sindhu had beaten Bingjiao in a memorable match to win the bronze medal in the Olympic Games in Tokyo. They have fought many battles in the BWF circuit and the Chinese player holds an 11-7 advantage over Sindhu in head-to-head record.
On Thursday with the passionate home crowd behind her, Bingjiao defeated the Indian former World Champion in straight games, 21-16, 21-12 in 47 minutes.
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Sindhu, who won the bronze medal in the Rio Olympic Games in 2016 and was also at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia, fought well in the first game but found that the Chinese player was playing a different tempo.
In the first game, the two players went neck and neck before the Chinese opened up a gap at 5-2. Sindhu won the next two points but Bingjiao made it 9-5 with a good combination of shots. Sindhu won the next three points but the Chinese again extended the lead to 12-8. The neck-and-neck battle continued with both players winning a couple of points in a row before Bingjiao wrapped it up at 21-16.
Sindhu tried to change the tempo of the match in the second game but Bingjiao did not give her many chances. She opened up a 5-1 lead in no time and though Sindhu defended well against her aggressive tactics, she could not counter it for long and lost the game 12-21 to miss a chance of reaching the semifinal and sealing a medal.
Unlike the Olympic Games, both losing semifinalists are awarded a medal in Asian Games. In the previous edition in 2018, India had bagged two medals in women; ‘s singles with Sindhu claiming the bronze and Saina Nehwal the bronze medal. So far in Hangzhou, India has won only one medal in badminton, a silver in the Men’s Team competition.
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