PV Sindhu loses semis, to face China's He Bingjiao for bronze

Hyderabad: Indian shuttler Pusarala Venkata Sindhu, the silver medalist at the Rio Olympics, failed to reach the final at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She lost to the current world no. 2, Tai Tzu-Ying, of Chinese Taipei in a high-intensity battle for a place in the finals.

Sindhu and Tai Tzu-Ying had a neck-to-neck clash in the first set of the semi-finals where they were placed 18-18 until Tai scored three straight points to win the match.

Going into the second set, P.V Sindhu had no answers to Tai Tzu-Ying's aggressive approach and gave away a huge lead. This also put an end to Sindhu's unbeaten run at Tokyo. She will now face China's He Bingjiao for the bronze medal.

Sindhu began her campaign at Tokyo in a dominant fashion as she beat all her opponents in straight sets until the semi-final. Placed in Group J, she first went head to head with Ksenia Polikarpova of Israel and beat her 21-7, 21-10.

She then beat Cheung Ngan Yi of Hong Kong 21-9, 21-16 in straight sets and remained unbeaten in the group stage. She then faced Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark in the Round of 16 and beat her 21-15, 21-13 to reach the quarter-finals.

Playing the quarter-finals, Sindhu had to work really hard to beat Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in straight sets. Yamaguchi gave Sindhu a run for her money but lost to Sindhu who excelled under pressure. The current world no. 1, Chen Yufei, will take on world no. 2 Tai Tzu-Ying for the elusive gold medal in the women's singles category.