Asian Games 2018 Badminton Highlights: PV Sindhu booked historic women’s singles final. (Source: PTI)
Asian Games 2018 Badminton Highlights:ย PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal ended India’s 36-year wait for an individual medal at the Asian Games on Sunday. While Saina Nehwal lost against Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei to settle for bronze, PV Sindhu created history by becoming the first Indian woman to reach final of women’s singles at Asian Games. She beat Akane Yamaguchi of Japan to
Olympic medallists PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal today headed for a gold medal showdown at the 18th Asian Games after their quarterfinal victories ensured India's first ever women's singles medals at the Continental event. First it was London bronze medallist Saina, who ended a 36-year-old wait for an individual medal after locking at least a bronze following a 21-18 21-16 win over world number five Ratchanok Intanon in a 42-minute quarterfinal. Rio silver medallist Sindhu then fought past world number 12 Nitchaon Jindapol 21-11 16-21 21-14 in the other quarterfinal. India has won eight badminton medals at the Asian Games and six of them are in team events and one in men's doubles.
Match point Sindhu! Yamaguchi's angled smash is wide and Sindhu has match point at 20-10. WHAT A SMASH! Superb smash down the line by PV Sindhu and Yamaguchi can do nothing to it. PV Sindhu is through to the gold medal match. She wins 21-17, 15-21, 21-10.
Outstretched pick on the drop shot by Yamaguchi is desperate but it doesn't come off. Sindhu within two points of gold medal match. 19-10
Akane Yamaguchi goes for a bit too much with her angles and pushes the shuttle well wide. Tries to go for a drop shot next and it hits the top of the net. 18-10 in Sindhu's favour now
Misjudgement by Akane Yamaguchi once again and PV Sindhu with a commanding 15-8 lead now in the third and final game. Make that 16-8. Snap shot deep into the court and Yamaguchi is unable to get it back
PV Sindhu leads at the mid-game break in the decisive third game. Yamaguchi's serve reply is straight into the net. 11-7 now
WHAT A RALLY! What a superb rally. 41 shot rally between PV Sindhu and Akane Yamaguchi. At the end of which, Yamaguchi is down on the ground and Sindhu has her hands on her knees in exhausation. What a point. Sindhu the victor of it with a gentle push back with Yamaguchi's reply coming close to the net. 10-5 in Sindhu's favour now
FIVE POINT LEAD! PV Sindhu's push into the final-third lands in. Yamaguchi expected it to land long. Got herself in a tangle as a result with late realisation it is landing in but too late to do anything at that stage. 9-4
Yamaguchi beats her head with her racket in frustration. Yet another error, an unforced error, trying to go for too much on the smash and drop attempt. Sindhu, on the other side of the court, is pumped!
PV Sindhu putting on a great show of her fierce power and thumping smashes with three straight points leaving no chance for Yamaguchi. Sindhu leads 7-3
Luck working in Yamaguchi's favour. PV Sindhu makes an error nwo and that brings up the game point. PV Sindhu is pressured into flicking the wrist at the net and Akane Yamaguchi takes the second game 21-15. INTO THE DECIDER!
After PV Sindhu won two straight points, Yamaguchi ends that spell. Or the net does. Off balance, Yamaguchi somehow gets the shuttle back but it hits the top of the net and goes over. Sindhu with a backhand error and that's the four point gap once again
At one stage, it was PV Sindhu who had a four point lead in the second game. Now, it is Akane Yamaguchi who has built a four point gap. Error count rising from Sindhu's racket. 16-12 now in favour of the Japanese player
Clever, clever play by Akane Yamaguchi. First she pushes the shuttle into Sindhu's body and then with the Indian shuttler begged back, rises to send a smart drop shot. No chance of picking that up. Error by Sindhu thereafter and it is Yamaguchi who leads 11-10 at the mid-game interval in the second
PV Sindhu's otherwise dominant and fierce smash is only into the net. Yamaguchi clutching away at some key points here. Error by Sindhu now as Yamaguchi pushes the tempo. 10-9 now in Sindhu's favour
36 shot rally! What a point between the two 'gladiators'. PV Sindhu comes out on top and leads 8-5 in the second game. This is a test of nerves as much as that of fitness.
PV Sindhu with an imposing start once again in the second game as well. She leads 7-4 and has Yamaguchi scrambling all over. But the Japanese, as always, will fight until the end
Poor shot and placement by Yamaguchi. Gets her backhand wrong and Sindhu smashes it with ease. Game point now with Yamaguchi's errors continuing. She saves one with the luck of the net. 20-16 now. Sindhu with a tame error into the net and another point goes begging. Akane Yamaguchi's jump smash goes wide and PV Sindhu wins the opening game 21-17
Lovely shot by Sindhu as she's pushed to the right and picks it up late. Yamaguchi expects it to go wide but it lands in. Well in. Yamaguchi's spell of points won ends. Sindhu leads 18-15
Yamaguchi's push into the back court from the net is misjudged by Sindhu. The shuttle drops in and Yamaguchi continues to try and fight back. 17-14 in Sindhu's favour
PV Sindhu builds a 15-10 lead before Yamaguchi to reduce the deficit with strong smashes. Then lets go of her momentum by losing concentration at the worst time. Had the rally in her hand and command but mishits at the last moment. 16-12 to Sindhu
Marathon rally between the two as they go back and forth before Sindhu ends the extensive rally with a dominant smash down the line. Akane Yamaguchi's jump smash is into the net and Sindhu leads 11-8 at the mid-game interval
Pretty even and neck-and-neck in the first game so far. Lots of energy on display by Yamaguchi by moving well and some big smashes but Sindhu stands tall to weather the attack. Leads 8-6
Yamaguchi takes the earning lead to go up 3-1 in the first game. But Sindhu reels off three straight points to take the lead at 4-3
PV Sindhu and Akane Yamaguchi are on court for their semi-final. Sindhu with an 8-4 record on head-to-head against the Japanese shuttler including two recent wins in the past month - at the World Championships and here in Jakarta.
Error by Saina Nehwal and her smash is into the net. Match point for Tai Tzu Ying. Saina Nehwal sends her shot wide and Tai Tzu Ying wins 21-17, 21-14. Eight straight points for Tai Tzu Ying in the end. She is through to the final. Bronze medal for Saina Nehwal
Five straight points for Tai Tzu Ying. Saina fails to get to a drop shot and the advantage getting bigger and bigger. Things running away from Saina....
Touch of luck as Saina Nehwal's backhand reply hits the net and trickles over. 14-13 and Saina leads in the match for the first time
Saina Nehwal with an imposing smash as she makes TTY move to her right. But not enough to get a reply. Tai Tzu Ying goes into the break in the second game at 11-10. Led by the same difference in the opening game. Unforced error by Saina, trying to go for a drop shot and it is bang into the middle of the net. She's upset with that shot, as she should be.
Saina Nehwal's deft touches near the net go unreplied by Tai Tzu Ying. Touch of luck to that as well. With that, Saina Nehwal reduces the gap to 5-6.
BANG ON HEAD! Such venom and fierceness in Tai Tzu Ying's shots that Saina's tame reply to a thumping drive loops up and is smashed on top of the Indian's head. Tai Tzu Ying leads 4-1 in the second game
Tai Tzu Ying brings up game point after an error by Saina Nehwal. 20-16. Saina saves one with TTY sending her drop shot into the net. But this time, Saina's push into the back of the court sails long. Tai Tzu Ying wins the first game 21-17 in 19 minutes
What a comeback from Saina to come from 10-15 down to make it 15-16 but Tai Tzu Ying has regained her composure and the lead. Almost smashes the shuttle into Nehwal's face. 18-15
Incredible sounds inside the arena but that is not for the women's semi-final here. Indonesia men's doubles team are playing China. Saina Nehwal is staying within touching distance of Tai Tzu Ying. The Taiwanese World No 1 sends her smash into the net on one instances and then it hits the net but fails to go over. 15-16 now
Tai Tzu Ying has raced off with four straight points after the break to build a five point gap on Saina. Doing exceptionally well to control the shuttle from a trickle over the net. Into Saina's body from the net and no reply is possible. Saina ends the streak as Tai Tzu Ying's backhand is wide.
Tai Tzu Ying maintains her one point lead with a well angled smash past Saina on the right
Saina Nehwal is pumped and is forcing Tai Tzu Ying into errors. Making quite a few on the backhand side. 9-9 before she sends a smash into Saina's body which goes unreplied. 10-9. Imposing play by Saina! She is pushing TTY into the backhand corner and creating spaces with errors but this time a smash levels matters.
Tai Tzu Ying keeping the gap on Nehwal. Just as Saina reduces the deficit to one point, TTY draws back to win a point and consolidate her advantage. Just as I say that, Tai Tzu Ying sends her backhand long and it is 8-8