PV Sindhu created history by becoming the first Indian women to win back-to-back Olympic medals. The Rio Olympics silver medallist triumphed in the bronze medal match against He Bing Jiao of China 21-13, 21-15. Sindhu joins wrestler Sushil Kumar, who had won two medals at the Olympics.
A day after coming up short against Tai Tzu Ying in the semifinals, Sindhu did well to overcome that disappointment and produced a dominant performance against a player who she lost six times in nine games.
"I'm on cloud nine. I'm going to enjoy this moment. My family has worked hard for me and put in a lot of effort so I'm very thankful. And my sponsors have given me their best so I'd like to thank them and enjoy the moment," Sindhu said.
Sindhu's team said she was quite upset after losing the semifinals. However, within a couple of hours after working with the physio, Sindhu was charged up and determined to give her best in the bronze medal match. She slept early and was ready for the big match.
Sindhu had always delivered on the big stage. But for 2015, Sindhu had won medals at the Olympics and world championships. She has five world championships including a gold and silver.
However, the runup to this major tournament was not smooth. She had parted ways with her longtime coach Pullela Gopichand and relied on Korean Park Tae Sang and the Suchitra Badminton Academy.
She shifted base to Gachibowli Indoor Stadium, got sparring partners from Suchitra Academy and worked on her body with Suchitra's trainer Srikant Verma.
When she returned from England, she was not fully fit but the hard work she had put was on display during the Olympics.
She is fit like a fiddle and on Sunday in the bronze medal match, the manner she moved all over the coach was something only the fittest athlete can do.
Binjg Jiao tested Sindhu throughout the match. Known for her tactical acumen, the Chinese girl made Sindhu run all over the court with her deft touches at the net and deceitful pushes. But Sindhu was up to the challenge, she stretched forward and rushed to the back of the court to retrieve the shuttle.
The Indian dictated the pace for most part of the match. And whenever, Bingjiao looked like coming back into the back, the Indian shut her out with power-packed smashes.
Such was the dominance of Sindhu, that there were at least a dozen smash winners in the second game of the match.
Sindhu started confidently with a 5-2 lead in the first game. Though Bing Jiao came back, Sindhu was three points ahead at the break 11-8. After returning from the break, Sindhu won another three points to widen the margin to 14-8. Though Bing Jiao tried, it was a big lead to erase.
In the second game, Sindhu was even more aggressive. Playing smash winners with ease, Sindhu dominated the game. Some of her down the line smashes were a delight to watch. The manner she ended a rally by packing more power to her drives unnerved Bing Jiao.
Though Bing Jiao followed Sindhu till 14-16, the Indian widened the game with some sharp returns and took the issue beyond the Chinese girl.
