Asian U-19 championship: Sindhu creates history

P V Sindhu created history on Saturday when he became the first Indian shuttler to win the Badminton Asia Youth U-19 championship in Gimcheon, Korea.

The world number 25, who had lost in the semifinal of the last edition of the competition, got the better of second seed Nozomi Okuhara of Japan 18-21, 21-17, 22-20 in the girl’s singles final to achieve a feat that compatriot Sameer Verma failed to conquer in Lucknow last year.

The Gopichand Academy trainee went into the summit clash high on confidence having won all her previous round matches without dropping a game.

However, the final was far from smooth sailing for the junior and senior national champion. She struggled to get off the blocks in the first game and had to fight back in the second and third.

In the decider, Sindhu trailed 19-16 before claiming four straight points to earn her first match point. She wasted that opportunity but claimed the second to lift the title.
"I cannot describe how happy I am. It is yet to sink in," she told this correspondent from Korea.
Sindhu said the real confidence booster for her was when she managed to beat her last year nemesis Yu Sun in the quarterfinals.
"When I was trailing 19-16 in the decider, I was a bit tensed. But all ended well and I am happy about it," she added.

Road to title

First Round: beat Ryu Young Seo (Korea) 21-11, 21-13

Second Round: beat Rina Andriani (Indonesia) 21-10, 21-19

Quarterfinal: beat 6-Yu Sun (China) 22-20, 21-19

Semifinal: beat 3-Busanan Ongbamrungphan (Thailand) 21-19, 21-16

Final: beat 2-Nozomi Okuhara (Japan) 18-21, 21-17, 22-20