Jakarta: World No. 1 Tai Tzu-ying dished out a masterclass to tame P V Sindhu and clinch the women’s singles badminton gold at the Asian Games here on Tuesday. The Chinese Taipei player triumphed 21-13, 21-16 and handed Sindhu her fifth defeat in as may finals this year. She also improved her head-to-head record against Sindhu to 10-3. This was the sixth straight defeat for Sindhu at the hands of Tai.
It was also the fifth successive loss in a major final for world No. 3 Sindhu. She lost the 2016 Olympic final to Carolina Marin of Spain, while Nozomi Okuhara of Japan edged her in an epic clash in last year’s World Championships final. Teammate Saina Nehwal outplayed Sindhu in this year’s Commonwealth Games final, while Marin again proved her tormentor in the World Championships summit clash earlier this month.
Silver lining
But the 23-year-old from Hyderabad can be proud of becoming the first Indian to earn a silver medal from the sport at the Asian Games. Sindhu’s silver and Saina’s bronze also meant India improved their tally of a lone bronze from women’s team event at the last edition in Incheon.
“It was a good game overall. I gave away some easy points. I conceded a few consecutive points. She maintained that (lead) and she finished it. I should have been more patient. I was down 5-0 early and I should have broken her rhythm,” Sindhu said during a post-match interaction with the media here on Tuesday.
“It was a fast game, we both played attacking game. Her defence was also good. The Japanese tend to play a lot more rallies. It was nothing to worry about. I should have reduced my mistakes.”
Sindu said it was deception which makes Tai such a dangerous opponent.
“She’s very deceptive. She has got good flicks, it’s not very tough to take those. But one has to keep the shuttle in play. She has good strokes. She’s deceptive whether it’s a smash or a toss and one has to take three extra steps to take them,” added Sindhu.
The 24-year-old Tai was determined to make amends after suffering a shock defeat at the hands of Chinese He Bingjiao in the quarterfinals of the BWF Worlds and was always in the ascendancy.
Tai raced away to a 5-0 lead and it soon became 6-3. Tai’s deceptive strokes were too much for Sindhu and the numero uno led 11-7 at the break after just nine minutes. Sindhu reduced the deficit to 9-11. But Tai was always in control as she won four points on the trot to make it 17-10 and ran away with the opening game in just 16 minutes.
Sindhu fared slightly better in the second game. Sindhu won a couple of points to draw level at 4-4. But then again Tai raised her level of play and clinched three points in a row. Tai was now in firm control and led 11-7 at the break.
Sindhu had a mountain to climb by now and Tai had too many tricks up her sleeve on the big day. Tai took a 15-10 lead and wrapped up the game 21-16. The final lasted just 34 minutes.
Earlier, home favourite Jonatan Christie won the men’s singles gold with a hard-fought 21-18, 20-22, 21-15 win over Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien-chen.
