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sports
Sindhu is, arguably,
the biggest
non-cricketing
lost her concentration. The focus Sind- superstar crosscourt delectable drops shots. Her
hu once lost could never be regained. net dribbles were effective and Marin
This made the second game a one-sided sportsperson in the was pushing most of them in the net.
affair. Sindhu was never in the conten- On the other hand, Marin’s crosscourt
tion. Marin wrapped up the match by country of over 1.25 down the line strokes were falling wide.
conceding 10 points only. billion, who hope Her tosses were not deep enough to up-
With this medal, Sindhu has become
the only Indian to have four world that she will bag a set Sindhu.
Sindhu’s long services were trou-
championship medals. Besides two gold at the upcoming bling Marin continuously. She had no
silvers she had won two bronze med- other choice than to clear the shuttle
als at the 2013 Guangzhou and 2014 Asian Games safely. This involved two players in long
Copenhagen. and exhausting rallies. Sindhu was in
On the other hand, it is another dominating position leading 14-9 and
feather in the cap of Marin. With this She was returning everything thrown then 15-11.
win, she has become the first women on her by Marin. She was covering the Now, signs of fatigue started appear-
in the history of women badminton to court with agility. She matched the ing on Sindhu’s face. Her body language
win the world championships thrice — Spaniard stroke by stroke. She was changed. She started consuming more
2014, 2015 and 2018. pushing Marin to the baseline with her time in receiving service and more
Sindhu started on a positive note. deep tosses and earning points with time in towelling; even umpire had to
warn (not officially) her to come back
quickly to the court. At that juncture
perhaps her mind-body coordination
got disturbed, and she started mak-
Heart winner Sindhu has become the only ing unforced errors. Her state of mind
Indian to have four world championship medals was evident from her gestures. She was
looking at Pullela Gopichand for some
heavenly support after losing every
point. She lost her confidence and the
game at 19-21.
In fact, the match was over in first
game itself. Her body language was very
negative. She was exhausted mentally
and physically. She never showed any
signs of come back and surrendered
the match in first five points which she
gave in the start of the second game.
This made Marin lead 5-0. This was
the lead which never neutralized and
Spaniard had no trouble in wrapping
up the game 21-10 and thus clinched the
world title the third time.
This was the second consecutive
defeat for Sindhu in the final of World
Badminton Championship. After the
match, Sindhu had shown the signs of
frustration. Now after few days of the
championship she has shown a con-
fidence and took the things positively.
She quoted Dough Williams, “Never
give up, never give in, and when the up-
per hand is ours, may we have the abil-
ity to handle the win with the dignity
that we absorbed the loss.”
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