- By Namrata Vijay
- Thu, 01 Aug 2024 11:51 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Paris Olympics 2024: The Indian badminton contingent had a tough day on August 1. Earlier in the day, the men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Renkireddy and Chirag Shetty and HS Prannoy crashed out and then PV Sindhu also was eliminated from the Round of 16. Sindhu played against China's He Bing Jiao, where she committed unforeseen errors and then lost in straight games at La Chapelle's Arena Court 3. It's the first time that PV Sindhu hasn't won a single medal at the Olympics.
It was the same court where Satwik-Chirag also crashed out and the curse of this court haunted Sindhu as well as lost 19-21, 14-21 in a match, which went for about 56 minutes. Sindhu was eyeing for her third historic medal but lost to the sixth-seeded on Thursday.
The first game was quite close as both the shuttlers were seen putting their best foot forward, where Sindhu tried to pressure Jiao whereas the Chinese player showed a lot of deceptive shots and played powerful smashes. Sindhu was seen trailing in the beginning but then bounced back brilliantly where she forced Jiao to the net. Jiao, who was going with the flow, couldn't control the pouches at the front court and gave away lots of points. It was a first close game but Jiao bounced back by playing aggressive drop shots with her forehand.
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This is how Sindhu lost the first game by 19-21 and her efforts went in vain. This continued in the second game as well, where she was trailing by 8-2. The defense made a lot of difference in the first half of the second game, where He Bing Jiao faced all of Sindhu's smashes. At the same time, Sindhu committed multiple unenforceable errors as she couldn't judge the speed of the court and played long shots.
Jiao continued with her brilliant form and thus defeated Sindhu in straight games. Her loss gave the Indian badminton contingent a tough day on August 1. Besides, Swapnil Kusale's bronze medal, India suffered a heartbreaking defeat in hockey as well and shooter Sift Kaur Samra was also knocked out from the 50m Rifle 3p event.
Lakshya Sen is the only one from the badminton contingent, who can win a medal at the ongoing event. He will lock horns with Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen in the quarterfinals on August 2, Friday.