Rio de Janeiro: India’s fortunes took a sudden turn for the better in the last 24 hours with wrestler Sakshi Malik’s bronze as shuttler P.V. Sindhu assured the country of at least a silver medal after thrashing Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara in the women’s singles badminton semi-final at the Rio Olympics here on Thursday.
The World No. 10 from Hyderabad registered a 21-19, 21-10 triumph in the semi-finals over world No.6 Okuhara to become the first Indian shuttler to enter the final of the Olympics.
Twitter went after Sindhu’s victory. Here are some of the best tweets:
T 2352 – YEEEAAAAHHHHHH !! COME ON INDIA .. PV Sindhu in FINALS of Womens Badminbton at #Rio2016 .. another women from India ! HISTORIC
— Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) August 18, 2016
T 2352 – #PVSindhu .. aap "khaali haath" nahein, medal leke wapas aa rahein hain .. aur hum aapke saath 'selfie' nikalne chahate hain !!
— Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) August 18, 2016
Bhaiyo es chori ne bhe lath gaad diya proud of #PVSindhu and wish u all the best for finale hope u come up wth gold 🇮🇳
— Vijender Singh (@boxervijender) August 18, 2016
What a player !! @Pvsindhu1 I'm waiting for you to join me in the club. You have no idea how lonely it's been !!!
— Abhinav A. Bindra OLY (@Abhinav_Bindra) August 18, 2016
What aggression.
What dominance.
What composure.
A born Champ just came to light.
Badminton in India will never be same again.#PVSindhu— Yashwant Deshmukh 🇮🇳 (@YRDeshmukh) August 18, 2016
I SALUTE YOU #PVSindhu. Those smashes could move mountains. WHAT AGRRESSION !!! Another Indian Woman creates history #goforgold #Rio2016
— Kapil Dev (@therealkapildev) August 18, 2016
With this win, double World Championship bronze medallist Sindhu improved her head-to-head record against reigning All England Open champion Okuhara to 2-3.
In the final, she will face two-time reigning world champion Carolina Marin of Spain, who beat defending champion Li Xuerui of China 21-14, 21-16.
Irrespective of the colour of the medal in the final on Friday, it will be India’s second medal in the Rio Games after wrestler Sakshi Malik bagged a bronze medal in the women’s 58kg category.