The scoreline read 19-15 and China’s He Bing Jao had no answer to PV Sindhu’s crosscourt smash. At 20-15, Sindhu murmured to herself: “One more point”.
One more point would give her the badminton bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympic Games. And that point came after a brief rally, Sindhu unleashing another winner. The final score: 21-13, 21-15.
Emotions took over the moment as the 26-year-old let out a scream of joy. Her Korean coach Park Tae-Sang, seated on the sidelines, was euphoric. Sindhu went to her coach, embraced him. A pat from the coach and Sindhu walked to the other side of the court and swept off beads of sweat. She smiled. India cheered.
China’s world No. 2 Chen Yu Fei took the gold, beating Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying 21-18, 19-21, 21-18 in the final.
Sindhu broke the glass ceiling by becoming the first Indian woman to bag two medals in consecutive Olympics. Her overflowing trophy cabinet already has a silver medal from the Rio Olympic Games five years back. Before her, only wrestler Sushil Kumar, now languishing in jail on a murder charge, had won two medals back-to-back in the Beijing (bronze) and London (silver) Games.
She is also only the fourth player to win two consecutive medals in women’s badminton singles in the Games’ history.
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“I’m on cloud nine. I’m going to enjoy this moment. It makes me feel really happy because I’ve worked hard for so many years. I had a lot of emotions going through me — should I be happy that I won bronze or sad that I lost the opportunity to play in the final? But overall, I had to close off my emotions for this one match and give it my best, my all. I’m really happy and I think I’ve done really well. It’s a proud moment, getting a medal for my country,” Sindhu was quoted as saying by the world body BWF’s website.
It was indeed a great moment for every Indian. After her demoralising loss to Tai Tzu-ying on Saturday, it was Sindhu of yore on Sunday. Those smashes, deft net-plays, Sindhu was a treat to watch. She stuck to the game plan and did not give Bing Jao much of a chance.
“It’s not easy. It’s a big thing. There were really long rallies but I had to be patient and calm. Even though I was leading, I did not relax,” she said.
Under Park, Sindhu’s overall game has improved a lot. She is now more confident in front of the net and defensively also very compact.
This was India’s third medal this Olympics and, interestingly, all have been earned by women. Besides Sindhu, weightlifter Mirabai Chanu won a silver on July 24, while boxer Lovlina Borgohain is assured of at least a bronze.
A big shout-out to woman power.
