PV Sindhu Claims Silver In World Badminton Championships Final

August 28, 2017 13:16

PV Sindhu Claims Silver In World Badminton Championships Final:- After losing 19-21, 22-20, 20-22 to Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in a hard-fought final, ace Indian shuttler, PV Sindhu had to claim silver in a hard-fought final of the World Badminton Championships at Glasgow in Scotland on Sunday.

At around 2:30am on Sunday morning Rio Olympics silver-medallist Sindhu finished her semifinal and after 17 hours for the final she was again back on the court. Despite being drained out during the entire final due to long rallies and sheer power game, both the players exhibited their extreme levels of fitness. This was the longest match of the World Championships, which lasted for 110 minutes.

In the World Championship, this was Sindhu’s first final appearance and thus her best ever performance. Having won bronze twice in 2013 and 2014, after losing at the semifinal stage in both the editions, this was a third medal for Sindhu at Worlds.

As the country now has two medals for the first time, it was also India's best-ever show in a World Championship. On Saturday after losing her semifinal, Saina Nehwal had won a bronze medal.

On a fine line judgment, Okuhara took the first point of the match, while Sindhu scored two successive points to take 2-1 lead. To keep their grip on the game, both the players exchanged points on their serves. Sindhu, trailing 3-5, got her act together and to go into the break with a 11-5 lead won eight back-to-back points. To reduce the gap to 7-11, Okuhara picked up two straight points after changing the sides. After clinching a point on a hard fought 39-shot rally, the attacking Okuhara soon made it 10-13. Sindhu kept her claim against Okuhara but faltered at crucial junctures. At 14-all, Okuhara leveled the scores and then took four-point lead to make it 18-14.

Specially after putting up all her effort in the big rallies, Sindhu came out with lot of unforced errors. As Sindhu fought back to make it 18-18 in the first game, Okuhara too made few unforced errors. To give her opponent a game point, Sindhu played it on the net at 19-19 and then played it wide of the court to lose the first game 19-21.

In the second game, Sindhu was totally a changed player as she took an early 5-1 lead. But, to reduce the deficit by one point 8-9, a fighting Okuhara clinched five straight points. Sindhu went into the break with 11-8 lead. At 12-all post the break in the second game, both Sindhu and Okuhara were neck and neck.

In the second game, Okuhara took the lead (13-12) for the first time. But, to win four crucial points, Sindhu bounced back and led 16-13. Okuhara was at her fighting best as she kept chasing Sindhu at 17-18. But soon, to give Sindhu 19-17 lead, the Japanese made an error at the net. Sindhu made it 20-17 while Okuhara dished out her best game to make it 20-20. To grab two crucial points, Sindhu held her nerve and after winning a 73-shot rally on the final point, with a nerve-wrecking 22-20 win in the second game, forced the match into the decider.

Both the shuttlers played their heart out in the middle and showed some extraordinary skills of the game on the court.

The third and title-deciding game was opened by Okuhara with a 5-1 lead, but Sindhu came to the fore as she instantly leveled, winning four successive points, terms with a 5-5 score. In the final game, as Sindhu went into the break with a 11-9 lead, both of them exchanged points.

After changing the ends, Okuhara made it 11-11. The rallies were extremely big and tiring as it made both the players physically drained out in the decider. Sindhu also got warning for misconduct for not turning up on the court in time.

At 18-17, Sindhu took the crucial lead and extended it to 19-17 in quick time. To make it 19-19, Okuhara fought back hard. Sindhu, who played it on the net, gave Okuhara first Championship point. Sindhu kept her nerves and mind in control as she drew level at 20-20. But Okuhara got a second Championship point due to the same error again from Sindhu and Okuhara did not make the mistake this time and won the championship by sealing the final game 22-20 in her favor.