Ace Indian shuttler PV Sindhu on Sunday flagged the gruelling badminton schedule at the Asian Games following her heartbreaking quarterfinal exit, as she missed the chance to add to her Asian Games medal haul of bronze in 2014 and silver in 2018.
“I needed a little time to put this into words. My Asian Games campaign is over, and I’m hurting. Three points from closing out that quarterfinal. I keep coming back to those three points. Like in China, long, demanding rallies at the most critical moments turned the match. I had my chance. Letting it slip hurts,” she wrote.
She then returned to the court at 1:30pm on Sunday for her quarterfinal against Chen. The 31-year-old admitted that the demanding schedule had taken a toll. Sindhu was scheduled to play two matches on Saturday, with her second match ending after midnight at 1am.
“Three matches in 18 hours. Back at 3 a.m., out again at 8:30 a.m. It took a toll. But after a camp that gave me every reason to believe, I wanted so much more. My team and I are already working on closing out those moments. We will fix it,” she added.
“Not really, because the scheduling was not really well organised is what I feel,” Sindhu said. Speaking to reporters earlier on Sunday, Sindhu had also criticised the scheduling for the singles badminton event when asked if she had previously played two matches in a day at a major championship.
