Paris Olympics 2024: PV Sindhu rues error-prone game as He Bingjiao avenges Tokyo Olympics loss

Indian badminton star PV Sindhu rued defensive errors as she made an exit from the ongoing Paris Olympics 2024 after losing her round-of-16 match to He Bingjiao 21-19, 21-14.

Sindhu made a plethora of defensive errors and unforced errors as she lost her game plan to surrender in straight sets.

Sindhu won the silver medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016, won the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 and her dream of winning a third Olympic medal would just remain a dream for now.

The 29-year-old topped her group by winning all her group stage matches and ran into Bingjiao, whom she defeated to win the bronze medal in Tokyo three years ago, who was unstoppable on the night.

The Chinese shuttler controlled the pace of the rallies, often with high speed, as she avenged her Tokyo Olympics defeat. Her smashes were on point and combined with soft drop shots, Bingjiao was in complete control of the game.

Speaking of the loss, Sindhu said she should have been in control of how she was playing. “I should have controlled in terms of a little bit of mistakes on my defence is what I felt. It is not an easy win or easy points, you can’t think that you have finished the game. She has that jump smash. Even my smashes, I think, which were mid-court, they were just going out when she was challenging. I should have hit them inside and I should have got those points where I’ve made those unforced errors,” she said reflecting on the match.

The Hyderabad-based shuttler said she doesn’t regret how things panned out in Paris. She joined hands with Prakash Padukone before the Olympics and had an extensive training camp in Germany before arriving in Paris. “Everybody worked hard, so we’ve done whatever we could. Rest is destiny. I don’t regret it,” she added.

Sindhu couldn’t recover from Bingjiao’s attack. The Chinese was good at her smashes and her forehand, repeatedly targeting Sindhu’s backhand and moving her all throughout the court.

Sindhu couldn’t time her lifts properly and went short many times as she made a host of unforced errors that gave the Chinese a huge advantage.

Sindhu’s next will be a short break and then she hopes to come back stronger but did not commit anything about the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. “It’s (LA 2028) still four years away. So for me, right now, I just go back and rest for a bit, maybe just take some break and then come back and let’s see what it is because four years is a very, very long time. So let’s see,” she concluded.