After her heartbreaking exit from the women’s singles category at the Paris Olympics 2024 on Thursday, `Telugu Pride’ P V Sindhu’s Olympics journey seems to be sealed. Her participation at the next Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028 is said to be not certain.
Sindhu went down to the sixth seed He Bing Jiao in straight games 21-19 and 21-14 to crash out of the event. Her defeat to Bing Jiao is her first-ever loss to a Chinese player at the Olympics.
Sindhu was chasing her third Olympic medal in Paris to become the first-ever Indian athlete to win three Olympic medals in history. Sindhu was non-committal when she was asked after her loss if she would participate in the next Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.
“It’s 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,” Sindhu said.
PV Sindhu admitted that she made errors that cost her the Paris Olympics Round of 16 match against China’s He Bing Jio. On Thursday she crashed out of the badminton women’s singles after losing 19-21, 14-21 to her Chinese opponent in 56 minutes at the La Chapelle Arena Court 3.
For the first time in her Olympics career, Sindhu returned empty-handed after winning silver in Rio 2016 and bronze in Tokyo 2020. Interestingly, it was Bing Jio whom Sindhu beat to win the bronze medal in the Olympics three years ago. But in Paris, the Chinese shuttler did not allow much breathing space to her Indian opponent.
“It’s been a wonderful journey so far. There were ups and downs, and I came back from an injury, and everything was going on well. You can’t expect easy wins or picking the form at the right time. Sometimes it might not be your day. We all really worked hard,” she added.
The world No. 13 was dejected after the outcome in the round of 16 and reflected on the game by saying she should have controlled it better compared to her opponent.