PV Sindhu reacts after losing semis to Akane Yamaguchi, says could have played finals
PV Sindhu was left in tears after the umpires' "unfair" decision in her semifinal match against Japan's Akane Yamaguchi which thwarted her hopes of winning gold at the Badminton Asia Championships. She was given a point penalty for taking too long to serve between points in the second game.
After that incident, the 26-year-old from Hyderabad slowed down, losing 21-13, 19-21, 16-21 to finish with a third-place finish for the second time in this tournament. "The umpire told me you're taking a lot of time but the opponent wasn't ready at that point. But the umpire suddenly gave her the point and it was really unfair. I think that was one of the reasons why I lost," said Sindhu after the match on Saturday.
"I mean that is my feeling because at that moment it was 14-11 and could have become 15-11 but instead, it became 14-12 and she took continuous points. And I think it was very unfair. Maybe I would have won the match and played in the final."
"I told the chief referee, and he came and said it is already done. As a chief referee, you need to at least make sure what was the mistake. Maybe he should have seen the replay and should have done something about it."
Sindhu's father, PV Ramana, expressed his disappointment with the decision.
"She was confident of winning gold this time and so was very disappointed. She was crying when she spoke to me, but I told her that it is done and dusted and she should forget about it," Ramanna told PTI. After she was made to hand over the shuttle to the opponent by the chair umpire, she was seen to be arguing with the chief umpire.
"What the umpire did was not correct. If she was delaying, then you could have warned her with a yellow card and if you are penalizing her with a point, then at least show a red card and give the point but there was nothing of that sort," Ramana said.
There were also rumors that Sindhu would refuse to accept the bronze after skipping the medal ceremony, but the star herself put those rumors to rest with a tweet and a candid photo of her posing with the medal. "A medal at the end of an excruciating campaign is always special. This could have gone the distance. Looking forward to the next," Sindhu tweeted.
However, Ramana made clear that a formal permission letter from the authorities was sought in this regard. "Nothing like that. She accepted the medal. It is just that she had to rush for a flight back home, so she took permission from the authorities," he said.
"See, Sindhu has to go to Uber Cup (May 8-15, Bangkok) and there were no direct flights available from Manila to India for tomorrow and the day after. "If she had reached on 4th May, she would have missed out on a few days of training ahead of the Uber Cup," the former India spiker said.