India's confidence in a third Olympic medal for PV Sindhu was dampened as she was defeated by China's He Bing Jiao in the women's singles round of 16 match on August 1 in Paris. The legendary Indian athlete lost the match 19-21, 14-21 in 56 minutes against the Chinese counterpart she had defeated at the Tokyo Games in 2021 to clinch bronze for India.
Sindhu had also won a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. This brings India's badminton women's campaign in Paris to an end as doubles team Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnapa were also defeated earlier in the Games.
PV Sindhu Out Of Paris Olympics
PV Sindhu has been one of the most sought-after players in badminton and India was anticipating yet another Olympic medal from the 29-year-old in Paris. However, He Bing Jiao had other plans-- Sindhu faced tough competition in the pre-quarterfinals, ultimately accepting defeat to the Chinese player.
Speaking to News18, Sindhu remarked, "I should have controlled in terms of a little bit of mistakes on my defence." However, the Indian prodigy expressed that she has no regrets about her training and preparation for the feat. "Everybody worked hard, so we’ve done whatever we could. Rest is destiny," she said.
Ahead of the Games, the World No. 13 Indian player trained in Germany under the mentorship of Prakash Padukone. Speaking about the match against the World No. 9, Sindhu said, "He Bing Jiao is a good player, we played a lot of times in the last year and before that as well. So we know each other's game."
Sindhu shared that winning the first set would have given her more confidence. She added, "I kept fighting still because, you never know, anything can happen. Both of us were fighting for each point because, until the end, you can’t expect. It’s not easy to win or easy points; you can’t think that you have finished the game.”
With one silver and one bronze medal, India hopes to see PV Sindhu also clinch an Olympic gold, the country's first in badminton, someday. Before Sindhu, three-time Olympian Saina Nehwal won India's first medal in women's singles badminton as she secured a bronze medal at the 2012 London Games.
PV Sindhu has won many Badminton World Federation tournaments and world championships, making a name as one of history's most prestigious athletes in India. She has also been honoured with an Arjuna Award (2013), a Padma Shri (2015), Padma Bhushan (2020), and Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna (2016).
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