PV Sindhu Faces World Number One Tai Tzu Ying in Gold Medal Match

Asian Games 2018: PV Sindhu has beaten Akane Yamaguchi to reach the gold medal match in women’s singles.

Asian Games: PV Sindhu has entered the gold medal match of the women’s singles event.

(Photo: AP)

• PV Sindhu becomes the first-ever Indian to enter the finals of a badminton event at the Asian Games.
• Sindhu beat world number two Akane Yamaguchi 21-17, 15-21, 21-10 in the semi-final.
• She will now face world number one Tai Tzu Ying in the final at 11:40 AM IST on Tuesday.

PV Sindhu has beaten world two Akane Yamaguchi to enter the gold medal match of the women’s singles event at the 2018 Asian Games.

The final scoreline read 21-17, 15-21, 21-10 to the world number three, making her only the first-ever Indian to qualify for a badminton final in Asian Games history. India had previously won eight bronze medals in the continental event with Syed Modi being the only singles player to finish on the podium, at the 1982 edition.

The scoreline doesn’t suggest it but I had to fight hard for every point. There were long rallies. She did not give up despite trailing. She was also a bit lucky with the net chords.

PV Sindhu

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Sindhu was sluggish at the start, making unforced errors but recovered quickly to be in control. She dominated the rallies and created a 11-8 lead at first break. She remained solid at the net, using a variety of strokes to force the Japanese World Number 2 to make errors.

A long rally ensued at 20-17 but Yamaguchi sent a smash wide and Sindhu closed the opening game at 21-17.

The second set saw Yamaguchi stage a comeback. Even though the Indian world number three was leading at 10-6, unforced errors crept into her game and Yamaguchi capitalised by closing it at 21-15, with Sindhu hitting a forehand wide.

The two players had faced each other four times this year and Sindhu was leading the head-to-head 3-1 coming into the match.

As the third game started, it was an error-free Sindhu once again on court as she reeled off four points in a row to shoot to 7-3, before taking the break with a 11-7 lead. She also won a sensational 50-shot rally to pull away 16-8 and there really was no stopping her from there as she closed out the win in 65 minutes.

Asian Games: Saina Nehwal lost to Tai Tzu Ying in the women’s singles semi-final.(Photo: PTI)

Women’s Singles Final on Tuesday

Sindhu will now face world number one Tai Tzu Ying in the final on Tuesday at 11:40 am IST after she beat Saina Nehwal in straight games in the other semi-final of the day.

The Chinese Taipei player has played Sindhu 12 times so far and holds a dominant 9-3 head-to-head lead over her. The last time Sindhu came out on top was the 2016 Rio Olympics when she won the match in straight games.

However, for Tuesday, Sindhu said she had a game plan in place to break Tai’s five-match winning streak over her.

I have a strategy in place for her. It should be a good match.

PV Sindhu

World number one Tai Tzu Ying has by far been the best player on the women’s circuit this season, winning five titles including the All England Championship and the Asian Championship earlier this summer. She dropped to number two in the rankings for a few weeks April but has kept a strong hold of the number one rankings since she returned to the top in May, 2018.

Playing Saina in the first semi-final of the day, she was all class as she closed out the match 21-17, 21-14 in 36 minutes.

Coach Gopi Proud of Saina and Sindhu

India sent a 20 member badminton team to Indonesia but with Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy making early exits and the doubles teams too failing to reach medal rounds, it will return with just the two medals won by Sindhu and Saina.

There are also concerns over Srikanth’s dwindling form this season but for now, India coach Pullela Gopichand is focussed on his one ward still left fighting for a medal and he’s confident Sindhu has what is retired to pull off a win on Tuesday.

Tai Tzu Ying has been a class player. Sindhu has done very well also to reach the final. Hopefully we can have a good match tomorrow and Sindhu can pull it off. There are only a few players in the world who can and I think its people with power and speed and Sindhu is one of them.

Pullela Gopichand, Indian Badminton Coach

India could have had two players in the final, had Saina won her semi-final as well but the coach said her loss was nothing to be disappointed about, praising her performance over the last week.

Saina’s was a tough match. I think she played well and it is nothing to be disappointed about. The way she has played this whole tournament has been pretty good, very gritty. The bronze she has won has come with a lot of hard work. I am very proud of the way she fought today.

Pullela Gopichand, Indian Badminton Coach

(With inputs from PTI)