PV Sindhu settles for bronze at Badminton Asia Championships

Other top Indian shuttlers, Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen, bowed out of the tournament in earlier rounds. On Saturday, the Hyderabadi ace shuttler PV Sindhu settled for the bronze medal after losing in the semi-finals of the 2022 Badminton Asia Championships women's singles. The 26-year old Sindhu, a former world champion, lost 21-13, 19-21, 21-16 in a match that lasted one hour and six minutes and clinched her second bronze medal at the continental event. 

Sindhu lost her pace in the second game.

Sindhu grabbed her first Asian championships medal in 2014 when she suffered a defeat at the hands of former world No 1 Wang Shixian of China in the semis. The world number seven went off on a good start and pressurized her Japanese opponent. She pocketed the first game without much challenge using her height as a weapon to create sharp angles. However, Yamaguchi's energy shot up in the second game, where she took four of the first five points. 

Sindhu then earned the six points and went from a 4-1 down to leading 11-6 at the break. However, she found herself struggling post- interval after she was penalized for not serving sooner. Yamaguchi used her breaking momentum to push the game into the decider. The world number one dedicated the third game to deft touches and dropped shots against a taller Sindhu. The rallies only grew longer as the match progressed, but the Japanese shuttler, a great finisher, maintained her composure, looking for the perfect moment to turn the game around.

Sunday's semi-final marked Sindhu's ninth loss against her higher-ranked opponent in 22 meetings. The Indian had beaten Yamaguchi at last year's BWF World Tour Finals and the Tokyo Olympics quarterfinals. Other Indian shuttlers like Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen couldn't retain their usual form and stormed out in the early rounds. 

Sindhu was disheartened at the umpire's tough decision to penalize her.

After the disheartening match, the Indian spoke to the media to clarify what happened in the second half. She disclosed that the umpire's unfair decision to give Akane the serve happens to be one of the reasons that led to her defeat. She said, "The umpire suddenly gave her the point, and it was unfair, and that was one of the reasons I lost." 

Shortly after, the chief referee intervened in the matter and refused to empathize with the frustrated Indian. She was further disappointed at how things played out and stated, "As a chief referee, he needed to make at least sure about the rectification of the incident or at least he should have done something about it". Sindhu had a lead into the second game by 14-11, but a point after that went to Yamaguchi for Sindhu's supposed delay in serving, which happened to be the game-changer. Now, it remains to be seen whether any action is taken. 

The men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost in the quarterfinals of the Badminton Asia Championship.

In the men's doubles quarterfinal, the Indian pairing of Satwik/Chirag was defeated 21-12, 14-21, 16-21 by Chia/Soh. The match concluded with a service error from the Indians, which cost them a semi-final spot and a medal in the tournament. The Malaysians delivered a remarkable turnaround that pushed them to the next round and assured them of a bronze. 

The Indians couldn't maintain a steady pace as Malaysia dialled up the pressure.

The first game started with the Malaysians taking a slight lead. However, the Indians fought back to level the score and took six straight points to take an 11-7 lead at the interval. The game picked up the pace, and before you know it, the Indians took the first game 21-12, thanks to the number of errors delivered by the opponents. Once the next round started, Aaron Chia began to dominate the court, living up to his expectations of being one of the best players Malaysia has ever seen. 

Soon after, the score read 2-6, which changed to 5-11 at the interval. The Malaysians took four more points conceding just one to the opponent, after which they soon earned a game point while the Indians were stuck at 12. After two saves, the game finally went to Malaysia. The third game progressed with similar momentum as the Tokyo 2020 bronze medallists established a 2-8 lead. The Indians slowed it down a notch and conceded more points until the score read 4-11. They scored two more points after Satwick received the serve. Chirag fought harder to notch a 4-pointer.