Ace Indian shuttler PV Sindhu had to settle for silver after losing 19-21, 22-20, 20-22 to Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in a hard-fought final of the World Badminton Championships at Glasgow in Scotland on Sunday.
Rio Olympics silver-medallist Sindhu finished her semifinal at around 2:30am on Sunday morning and she was again back on the court after 17 hours for the final. Both the players exhibited their extreme levels of fitness despite being drained out during the entire final due to long rallies and sheer power game.
This was the longest match of the World Championships, which lasted for 110 minutes.
This was Sindhu’s first final appearance in the World Championship and thus her best ever performance. This was a third medal for Sindhu at Worlds, having won bronze twice in 2013 and 2014 after losing at the semifinal stage in both the editions.
It was also India’s best-ever show in a World Championship as the country now has two medals for the first time. Saina Nehwal had won a bronze medal on Saturday after losing her semifinal.
Pusarla Venkata Sindhu is an Indian professional badminton player, who is currently world no 4 in the BWF World Ranking. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, she became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic silver