A valiant H.S. Prannoy battled his way into the semifinal of the men’s singles with a thrilling three-game win over Malaysia Lee Zii Jia to assure India a badminton medal, but it was curtains for P.V. Sindhu in women’s singles at the Asian Games here on Thursday.
Battling a back injury, world no.7 Prannoy dug deep to eke out a fighting 21-16 21-23 22-20 win over world no.16 Zii Jia in a marathon 78 minute quarterfinal contest.
Prannoy’s medal will be the first in men’s singles at the Asian Games since Syed Modi’s bronze in the 1982 edition in New Delhi.
A tired Prannoy saved two match points in the decider with his booming smashes and deceptions to register a great victory.
Earlier in the day, two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu crashed out of the continental showpiece, losing in straight games against China’s He Bingjiao. Sindhu, currently ranked 15th, looked a pale shadow of herself against world No.5 Bingjiao, losing 16-21, 12-21 in 47 minutes to bow out of the competition.
It was Bingjiao whom Sindhu had defeated in straight games to win the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics but the Chinese avenged her defeat on home soil to deny the Indian of a third Asian Games medals.
Sindhu had won bronze and silver medals respectively in 2014 Incheon and 2018 Jakarta Asian Games.
The first game started on a even keel between the two players as both shared points till six-all before Bingjiao took a 9-5 lead.
Sindhu struggled with her court coverage as Bingjiao made the Indian run the entire court and sealed the points with accurate placements and smashes to seal the first game easily in 23 minutes.
Sindhu’s struggle continued in the next game as Bingjiao took a 5-1 lead.
The star Indian shuttler’s returns were short and Bingjiao made no mistake in closing out the points with pinpoint smashes.
Sindhu showed some fight initially in the second game to close the gap at 8-9 with four straight points before the Chinese’s took control of the game and raced to 12-8 lead.
Sindhu was nowhere to be seen thereafter and looked to have surrendered as Bingjiao closed out the game and match in quick time.
