Sindhu bags silver at world championship

P V Sindhu's gallant effort to become India's first ever World Champion ended in a heartwrenching defeat against Japan's Nozomi Okuhara in an epic final, here on Sunday.

In the longest match of the tournament, which tested the physical and mental strength of both the players, Sindhu lost 19-21 22-20 20-22 after battling hard for one hour and 49 minutes. Their bodies were falling apart as the match progressed but both Sindhu and Okuhara used every ounce of energy left in them to make it an epic contest.

After closing the second game by winning an incredible 73-shot rally, Sindhu saved one championship point in the decider but it was the Rio Olympic bronze medallist who had the last laugh.

For India, it still is a historic edition since for the first time country's shuttler are returning with two medals.

Saina Nehwal won a bronze yesterday after losing her semifinal.

India had one silver and four bronze in the World Championships before this edition.

Prakash Padukone was the first Indian to win a medal when he took a bronze in the men’s singles in 1983 before the women’s doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa bagged another bronze in 2011.

Rio Olympic silver medallist Sindhu came into the match with a 3-all head-tohead record against Okuhara. But the Indian had an upper hand in their last two meetings — Rio Olympics and 2017 Singapore Open.

Sindhu, seeded fourth, was a little sluggish to start with and was 3-5 at one point but she managed to reel off eight points on the trot to grab an 11-5 lead at the break.

The Indian used her height to good use, retrieving the shuttles quickly and started using her cross court returns to trouble the Japanese. Sindhu showed good anticipation and used deception well to move to a 138 lead but the pint-sized Japanese changed gears and started dictating the rallies.