India's P V Sindhu fought valiantly but failed in her attempt to win the gold medal, as she lost to World No. 1 Carolina Marin in the women’s singles final on Friday. She, however, became the first Indian to win a silver medal in badminton at the Olympics.
In a match that lasted one hour and three minutes, Marin defeated Sindhu 21-19, 12-21, 21-15. Marin became the first European to win the Women's Olympic badminton gold.
Marin started the final strongly with a 11-6 lead but Sindhu retrieved every smash and drop shot and kept it close. Trailing 16-19, Sindhu scored five straight points to take the first game 21-19.
The Spaniard started with a vengeance in the second game, smashing her way to an 11-2 lead. Sindhu staged a brief comeback, but Marin overpowered the Indian with offensive play. The World No. 1 closed out the second game 21-12 to take the match to a decider.
The third game started in the same way, the Spaniard running away with a 6-1 lead but Sindhu showed tremendous grit to pull things back and equalise 10-10. From then on, every point was fought tooth to nail, but Marin managed to hold on to her lead and kept her date with history.
On Thursday, Sindhu became the first Indian to reach a final in badminton at the Olympic Games after she defeated Japan's Nozomi Okuhara. Earlier, she defeated World No. 2 Wang Yihan in the quarterfinals.
(This news report was first published in sportstarlive.com)