India’s PV Sindhu plays against He Bing Jiao during their women’s singles badminton match at the Paris 2024 Olympics. (AP Photo)
After PV Sindhu’s Paris Olympics campaign was cut short in the round of 16 by China’s He Bing Jiao, the two-time Olympic medallist didn’t want to look too far into the future and comment about her playing at the Los Angeles Games in 2028.
At the Rio Olympics, Sindhu had claimed a silver medal while she had won bronze in the deferred Olympics hosted by Tokyo three years ago. A medal at Paris would have made her the first individual medallist from India to have three Olympic medals.
However, that dream was cut short by Bing Jiao, who defeated the Indian 21-19, 21-14 at the La Chapelle Arena Court 3. It was a particularly bruising day for Indian badminton, one that saw the challenge of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty end at the hands of Malaysian pair of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in the men’s doubles quarter-finals. Meanwhile, HS Prannoy was defeated by Lakshya Sen in a men’s singles clash.
After her defeat, Sindhu was asked about the chances of her playing at the LA 2028 Games to try and win the elusive gold medal.
To this, Sindhu replied: “Next Olympics is still four years away. So for me, I will go back and rest for a bit. Take a break and see what it is. Four years is a very long time, (let’s take it) one week at a time. Right now it’s time to go back. I couldn’t give the result I expected. It’s sad. But it’s a journey, isn’t it?”
India’s Pusarla V. Sindhu plays against China’s He Bingjiao during their women’s singles badminton round of 16 match at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
When asked what had gone wrong against the Chinese shuttler, Sindhu said: “Overall I think I should have controlled my mistakes, that’s what I felt in the second game especially. It’s sad that I couldn’t convert it into a win, it was 19-19 at some point in the first game. I kept fighting for each point, both of us were. You can’t expect easy points or easy game. I should have controlled mistakes on the defensive end.
“There were some smashes that I hit which went out. I should have hit them inside and got those points, those were unforced errors. She got confidence from that. There were some smashes that she was defending. But then there were some points which were mid-court also which I was hitting just outside or into her hands,” Sindhu said.
The match was a replay of the bronze medal game at Tokyo Olympics which Sindhu had won. Today, however, the Chinese shuttler emerged victorious.
“She has a good smash. Her defence was really good today. I should have continued playing even more rallies today is what I felt. From my side there were errors sometimes when there were long rallies and points which I could have got, she was just returning the shots. After two or three shots I was hitting them out or making errors,” Sindhu pointed out.
Sindhu, when asked if her preparation for the Paris Olympics had been ideal, said: “I worked hard and I have no complaints about (the build up preparation coming to the Paris Olympics). We’ve done whatever we could. I don’t regret it. I don’t feel like I haven’t done something. I’ve done everything. Rest is destiny, isn’t it?”
