Sindhu settles for silver after losing Olympic final

By Tapan Mohanta Rio de Janeiro, Aug 18 (PTI) P V Sindhu’s gallant attemptto win a coveted gold medal for India ended in heart-breakwhen she went down fighting against Spain’s Carolina Marin andsettled for a silver medal in the women’s singles badmintoncompetition at the Rio Olympics here today. The 21-year-old Indian, who has been simply unstoppablein the tournament so far, crumbled under the tremendouspressure created by the two-time World Champion from Spain tolose 21-19, 12-21, 15-21 in a high-intensity final that lastedfor an hour and 23 minutes at the Riocentre here. Sindhu thus became the fourth Indian to win a silver atthe Olympics after shooters Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (2004,Athens) and Vijay Kumar (2012, London) and wrestler SushilKumar (2012, London). The two-time World championship bronze medallist alsobecame the fifth woman player from India to win a medal inOlympics history and the first to clinch a silver. She is alsothe youngest India to win a medal at the Olympics. Weightlifter Karnam Malleshwari (2000, Sydney), boxer MCMary Kom (2012, London), shuttler Saina Nehwal (2012, London)and wrestler Sakshi Malik (Rio, 2016) are the other womenplayers from India to clinch a medal in the quadrennial sportsspectacle. Sindhu, in fact, trailed 16-19 in the opening game beforereeling off five straight points to clinch it. She was thenoutclassed in the second to lose it tamely. In the decider, the lanky shuttler from Hyderabad trailed1-6 at one stage and caught up at 10-10 but could not keep thetempo after the short break as Marin simply changed gears tosurge to Spain’s first gold medal in badminton. In their last five meetings in the last two years, Marinhas beaten Sindhu four times with the Indian gaining an upperhand during the Denmark Super Series last year, but today shecould not repeat the feat. The hyper-aggressive Marin mixed power with precision todominate the rallies with her acute-angled smashesinterspersed with clever drops to catch the Indian often onthe wrong-foot. Sindhu struggled with the length of her strokes as gaveaway many points by hitting long and wide but she fought toothand nail till the end only to come second best. In the opening game, the Spaniard grabbed a 11-8 lead atthe interval. Sindhu could not vary the pace of the rallieseven as Marin came with some razor-sharp net play to extendthe lead to 15-11 at one stage. A net error and a long shot gave Sindhu two points tonarrow the gap and kept breathing down the neck of theSpaniard till 15-17. MORE PTI TAP ATK SSRATK