Star Indian shuttler PV Sindhu on Saturday settled for the bronze medal after suffering a comeback defeat against reigning world champion Akane Yamaguchi in the Badminton Asia Championships 2022 women’s singles semi-final in Manila.
The world No. 2 Japanese shuttler defeated PV Sindhu, a former world champion, by 13-21, 21-19, 16-21 in a match that lasted for one hour and six minutes. This is Sindhu’s second bronze medal at the continental event. With Sindhu’s defeat, India’s challenge at the Badminton Asia Championships has come to an end.
Sindhu got off to a great start as she dominated the early exchanges against Yamaguchi. The two-time Olympic medallist went on to seal the first game without much challenge.
The second game started on similar pace as the Indian shuttler Sindhu raced towards a lead of 11-6 at the mid-game break. But the momentum of the world no. 7 was soon broken as she was penalised for not serving sooner. Yamaguchi pounced on the opening and stretched the match into the decider.
The third game was well controlled by Japanese shuttler as she kept her cool in the decider to seal a spot in the summit clash on Sunday.
Sindhu’s first Asian championships medal came in 2014 when she lost to former world No. 1 Wang Shixian of China in the semis.
(Inputs from ANI)