Paris Olympics 2024: Sindhu shaky in defence, not enough smashes

PV Sindhu. Pic/AFP

Considering the pre-tournament form of two-time Olympic medallist, PV Sindhu, and her projected Round of 16 opponent, China's 27-year-old He Bing Jiao, badminton observers had not been too sanguine of the Indian's triumph at the Paris Games over the player she had beaten in the bronze medal playoff at Tokyo, three years earlier. Nevertheless, Sindhu's imposing reputation and profusion of medals in the big events like the Olympics and World Championships had induced her adoring fans to expect the completion of a hat-trick of Olympic medals in Paris.

Confident win

They were ill-prepared for the manner in which the Chinese left-hander handled all of the lanky Indian's stratagems, and waltzed confidently to a 21-19, 21-14 victory, to scuttle the hat-trick dream. Several factors contributed to Sindhu's unhappy exit at the Porte de la Chapelle Arena. In the period between 2021 and 2024, the Chinese southpaw had improved substantially in all departments, including footwork, temperament, defence, measured attack and courtcraft. She moved gracefully like a ballet dancer on the court, putting up a resolute defence to Sindhu's initial attempts at using her big smash, and converting defence into controlled attack. And, to give her due credit, she did not allow Sindhu to play her big attacking game.

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As for the 29-year-old Indian, her poor form through 2024, allied to the fact that she had a bad day at the office on Thursday, ensured that she was slow on her feet, shaky in her defending, late in reaching the net, especially on the backhand net corner (her perennial bugbear spot), and not confident enough in employing her best weapon, the big smashes on both flanks. When Bing Jiao returned all her smashes in the first half of the first game, Sindhu even forgot that she had such a potent weapon. Her best moments in the match came when she made up the early 2-7 and 6-10 deficits to restore parity at 12-all. She kept up the good work, engaging her rival in long rallies, to touch 19-all.

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Costly smash

A misdirected smash at this stage cost her the vital first game; and from there, it was all one-way traffic. Bing Jiao's game went from strength to strength and Sindhu's thrust towards victory dissolved in a spate of unforced errors and vain attempts to return her opponent's deceptive angled strokes. The Chinese left-hander was successfully able to improve her career head-to-head record against Sindhu to 12-9, including wins in the 2022 Asian Games and the 2024 Olympics, their most recent meetings.