Indian shuttler PV Sindhu won the bronze medal in women's singles at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday, defeating China's He Bingjiao 21-13, 21-15 at the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza, adding a second medal to India's tally at the Games.
Sindhu, her face a strange mix of quiet grit and menace, was in the mood to take no prisoners on Sunday, demolishing China's befuddled looking opponents. He Bing Jiao won her second Olympic medal in less than an hour, this time a bronze medal to go with her Rio silver.
“I’m on Cloud Nine,” Sindhu would exclaim later, but would also speak of undying ambition, “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 Olympics final?”
It was Sindhu's second Olympic medal, following her silver medal in Rio in 2016. She also made history by becoming the first Indian woman to win two Olympic medals. Prior to her achievement, wrestler Sushil Kumar was the only Indian to win two medals in the same Olympics.
Sindhu's first point in the match came after a 27-second 22-shot rally. She arose to take an early 4-0 lead over the left-handed opponent. He levelled out at 5-5. With a straight smash down the line, Sindhu stormed to an 11-8 mid-game lead.
Sindhu's Olympic campaign has been a resounding success. Except for the semifinal loss to Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei, she topped Group J and did not drop a single game in her winning matches.
“Congrats to our awesome Sindhu on her 2nd successive Olympics medal. While it is all due to the hard work by her and the team of coaches and support staff, I also want to express my gratitude to the support of Sports Minsitry, Indian Government, SAI and BAI. Also thank govt of Telangana for alotting the stadium for the players and great to see badminton win medals in three successive Games," Pullela Gopichand said.
