India’s badminton campaign ended with just one bronze in the men’s team event after PV Sindhu was knocked out in the women’s quarterfinal, losing 21-11, 18-21, 10-21 to Chen Yu Fei in a 75-minute battle. Sindhu was India’s last medal hope in the singles, and a win would have assured her an Asian Games medal. The Olympic medallist made an explosive start and took the first set 21-11.
Fei took an early 5-2 lead in the second game, but Sindhu clawed back in the contest to make it 13-13, and at one point led 18-17. Sindhu was desperate to end the game in two sets, but Fei won four consecutive points to force the game into a decider. Sindhu was totally distrought after losing the second game.
In the final game, the Chinese player took a 4-0 lead, but Sindhu bounced back to make it 8-7, however, she could only win three more points and was knocked out of the Asian Games.
A Day To Forget
Meanwhile, it was a day to forget for Indian as Indian players lost all four quarterfinals they were set to compete. Before Sindhu, Unnati Hooda lost to world No. 3 Akane Yamaguchi. Unnati fought hard but eventgually suffered a 16-21, 21-14, 17-21 defeat.
Treesa-Gayatri had earlier lost 18-21, 9-21 to Malaysia’s Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan in 42 minutes in women’s doubles. Dhruv and Tanisha, on the other hand, suffered a 14-21, 21-18, 18-2 defeat to World No.1 Chinese pair Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dongping in the mixed doubles category.
Sindhu’s defeat also brought a dissapointing end to India’s badminton campaign. In 2022, the Indian team won three medals, including a gold, silver and bronze, but all the medal contenders dissapointed in Japan and India was able to win just one bronze in the men’s team event.