Ichinomiya City, September 27, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
India’s badminton campaign at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games ended on Sunday after PV Sindhu suffered a 21-11, 18-21, 10-21 defeat to China’s Chen Yufei in the women’s singles quarterfinal.
Sindhu, who had played twice on Saturday, made an impressive start despite entering her third match in less than 24 hours. The Indian dominated the opening game against the Tokyo Olympic champion, taking it 21-11.
The second game was closely contested, with Sindhu leading 11-10 at the interval. The scores were level at 16-16 before Sindhu produced a big smash and followed it with a roar as she moved 17-16 ahead. Chen, however, responded strongly to win the game 21-18 and force a decider.
Sindhu struggled to reproduce her first-game dominance in the final game. Chen led 11-7 at the break and continued to pull away, with Sindhu managing only three more points as the Chinese shuttler closed out the game 21-10 and the match 2-1. Chen’s victory sent her into the semifinals and assured her of at least a bronze medal.
Earlier, Unnati Hooda went down fighting against three-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan, losing 16-21, 21-14, 17-21.
Hooda struggled early in the opening game but fought back to narrow the gap before Yamaguchi converted her chances to take it 21-16. The Indian responded strongly in the second game, winning 21-14 despite showing signs of fatigue during the contest.
Hooda stayed close to Yamaguchi in the decider but began to tire, with unforced errors allowing the Japanese shuttler to win 21-17.
In women’s doubles, world championships bronze medallists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand lost 18-21, 8-21 to Malaysia’s world No. 5 pair Thinaah Muralitharan and Pearly Tan.
India’s mixed doubles challenge also ended in the quarterfinals, with Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila losing 14-21, 21-18, 18-21 to China’s world No. 1 pair Yan Zhe Feng and Dongping Huang.
India’s badminton campaign produced only a bronze medal from the men’s team event, with the country’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles combinations unable to add another medal in the individual events.
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