Tokyo (SunstaraTV Bureau): India’s gem P.V. Sindhu’s hopes of securing first-ever Olympic gold in badminton for country, now shattered as she slumped to a straight-game defeat against Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei in the women’s singles semifinals here on Saturday.
Sindhu, the silver medallist from the Rio Games, remained in the hunt for a bronze medal and will be competing against China’s He Bing Jiao in the third place play-off at Musashino Forest Plaza tomorrow.
The 26 years old from India, who claimed medals in all bigticket events in the last five years, Sindhu couldn’t counter Tai Tzu’s deception with her aggressive game, going down 18-21 12-21 here.
This is Sindhu’s 14th loss to the Taiwanese second seed in 19 meetings, having also lost to her in the last three face-offs. On Friday, Sindhu, seeded sixth, had beaten Japanese world no.5 Akane Yamaguchi in the quarterfinals.
