Mumbai: Indian shuttler PV Sindhu lost to the world no 1 Carolina Marin of Spain 21-19 12-21 and 15-21 and ended up winning first silver medal for India in the Rio Olympics women’s singles badminton on Friday. By virtue of this win, Sindhu became the first Indian woman to bag a silver in Olympics.
It may be recalled that Sindhu beat the sixth ranked player in the semi-finals to assure a medal for the nation on Thursday itself. Going for the gold, both Sindhu and Carolina Marin, performed brilliantly in the three sets.
During the first set, Sindhu played an attack strategy and getting Caroline out of her comfort zones to gain point after point specially towards the end thus winning the set by 21-19, putting Carolina under pressure.
Since the start of the second set, Carolina kept her attack very strong giving Sindhu only a few chances to score thus winning the set 12-21. Millions glued to television sets waited in anticipation for the third set to begin. In the history of India it was a the first time that millions of people had deserted cricket and other sports to watch the finals of a Badminton match, particularly to witness PV Sindhu, a young and extremely talented woman, perform for India.
With the start of the third set, both players matching shot for shot and were locked at 10-10. Here, Marin had the last laugh by dint of her long career in top flight of the game. The competition was a tough one and even though Sindhu gave her best, because of her fall while hitting a shot, gave Carolina the set, the match and the gold.
Today, even after Sindhu won Silver, people of India as well as Indian diaspora around the globe had respect for Sindhu for her top quality display.
The final also witnessed what Olympics is all about. It is not just about winning, it is about sportsmanship, it is about international relations and biggest of all it is about International friendships and a healthy competition restricted just to the arena.
After the match, the way an emotional Carolina was hugged by a tad disappointed Sindhu portrayed the true spirit of the quadrennial showpiece. On the other hand, Indian sports got another pin-up girl. Just being 21, age is on Sindhu’s side to make it really big in the circuit.
With more games in future, India too hope for more laurels from the badminton sensation. The race has only begun.