Rio de Janeiro: Lanky shuttler PV Sindhu made an epoch-making entry into the final of the women's singles in Olympic Games badminton when she outclassed Japan's higher-ranked Nozomi Okuhara and assured herself and the country of a silver medal on Thursday.
Sindhu, ranked 10th in the world, went one better than her senior Saina Nehwal, bronze medal winner in London four years ago, by becoming the first ever Indian to enter the summit clash in the shuttle game in the quadrennial sports spectacle.
Sindhu defeated her short-statured, third-seeded Japanese rival, the current All England champion and world no. six, 21-19 21-10 in 49 minutes with superb, attacking play to enter tomorrow's gold medal clash.
The Indian shuttler from Hyderabad, a two-time bronze medalist in world championships, will meet Spain's world no. 1 Carolina Marin who ousted defending champion Li Xuerei of China in the first semi-final with a 21-14 21-16 victory.
Sindhu's heart-warming feat came a day after woman grappler Sakshi Malik had won a bronze in the 58 kg class to end the medal drought for India in the Games on the 12th day of competition.
However, another wrestler made a tame exit from the competition today to end the women's campaign here. Babita Kumari lost her opening women's 53 kg category wrestling bout 1-5 against Maria Prevolaraki of Greece and got eliminated from the Games.
Much was expected of Babita, winner of two medals in past Commonwealth Games and bronze medalist in the World Championship in 2012, when she got on the mat a day after teammate Sakshi had provided India with their first medal in this Brazilian city.
But the 26-year-old grappler could not succeed against the tight defense put up by her Greek rival and lost points in both the periods of their pre-quarter final bout. And when Maria too lost her quarter-final bout against Venezuela's Betzabeth Angelica Arguello Villegas 3-6, it spelt curtains for the Indian's slim hopes of replicating Sakshi and win a bronze through the repechage process.
In both the three-minute periods, Babita got a leg hold on her rival but the Greek somehow managed to extricate out of the difficult situation and turn the tables on the Indian grappler.
On Wednesday, while Sakshi won bronze in the 58 kg, Babita's cousin Vinesh Phogat suffered a ligament tear during her bout in the 48 kg class against a Chinese rival, got stretchered out and also bowed out of the wrestling competition.
