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The stage was set for one of the most anticipated matches in badminton women's singles at Tokyo Olympics 2020. India's PV Sindhu was up against the world no. 1 Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taepei in the semi-finals of the event on Saturday. While the whole country was rooting for Sindhu to go all the way and win the gold medal, it was never going to be an easy task for her against an opponent who has had the upper hand in the previous meetings between the duo.
Before this match, Sindhu and TY Tai had met each other 18 times with the Chinese Taipei shuttler holding a 13-5 head-to-head advantage. Having lost all of her previous three encounters against TY Tai, Sindhu was certainly feeling the pressure going into this match which was quite visible throughout the match on Day 8 in Tokyo.
Sindhu failed to capitalize on her impressive start
The Indian shuttler started off the match quite impressively and looked in the game at the half-way mark in the 1st set. However, this is when TY Tai showed her class as she started producing some magnificent drop shots to put Sindhu on the backfoot. The world no. 1 absolutely started to dominate the game and started to forced errors from her opponent.
While Sindhu did show some moments of brilliance through the semi-final clash, it was just not enough on the day as TY Tai eventually registered a comfortable 21-18, 21-12 victory. As it stands, Sindhu's hope for a gold medal ended in a heartbreaking fashion as she will now play the bronze medal match.