PV Sindhu’s demons of being unable to cross the final hurdle came back to haunt her as she lost the Asian Games final to Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying. But the star Indian shuttler would walk out with her head held high as she achieved the feat of becoming the first Indian woman to bag the individual historic gold medal at the Games. Ying, who had earlier ended Sindhu’s compatriot Saina’s run in the competition a day ago, defeated the 24-year old in straight sets 13-21, 16-21 in a match that lasted for 34 minutes. With this medal, India now for the first time have won two individual medals at the Asian Games keeping in mind Saina’s bronze which she won a day ago.
Sindhu had earlier ended as the second-best in the finals of the Rio Olympics in 2016 and in the badminton World Championships this year, losing to Spain’s Carolina Marin on both the occasions.
The world no 1 Ying raced to a 5-0 lead in the opening game after which Sindhu’s first point in the match was greeted with a lot of cheer. Despite Sindhu staging repeated fightbacks, Ying always kept herself ahead. But eventually, the Hyderabadi shuttler was unable to keep up with Ying’s accuracy and failed to win the first game, losing it 13-21. She came much closer in the second game but the Chinese Taipei shuttler proved to be good for her on the day as she once raced away with the lead and eventually sealed the match at 16-21 after winning the second game as well.
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