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India's two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu said playing three matches within 18 hours took a toll on her as she reflected on her Asian Games exit following a quarterfinal defeat to China's Chen Yu Fei.
Sindhu, who bowed out after losing 21-11, 18-21, 10-21 to Chen on Sunday, shared a post on X after the defeat and pointed to the limited recovery time between her matches. "I needed a little time to put this into words. My Asian Games campaign is over, and Im 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," Sindhu wrote on X. "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. Sindhu had a gruelling Saturday, with her first match delayed and her second match shifted between courts. She finished her second contest close to 1am, returned to her hotel after that and went through her dinner and recovery routine before sleeping at nearly 3am. She was back up at 8:30am on Sunday ahead of her quarterfinal against Chen. Sindhu made a strong start against the Chinese former world champion, taking the opening game 21-11, but Chen responded by extending rallies and eventually turned the contest around. Sindhu lost the second game 18-21 before going down 10-21 in the decider. "Im hurting, but thats okay. Im glad it still means enough to hurt this much. I still want this. I still bring all of myself to that court. That feeling keeps me going," Sindhu wrote. The Indian also reflected on her long Asian Games journey, having made her debut at the 2014 edition. "Theres room for pride, too. From my first Asian Games in 2014 to my fourth now, twelve years of giving everything for India. I want to let myself feel that. One painful result cannot define a journey that means so much," she wrote. "To everyone who stayed up, cheered and believed: I wanted those last three points for us, too. Thank you for standing beside me. Ill go again," she concluded. Sindhu's exit, coupled with Unnati Hooda's quarterfinal defeat to Japan's Akane Yamaguchi, brought India's individual badminton campaign at the Games to an end. India finished with the men's team bronze as its only badminton medal. The scheduling also drew criticism from other players during the competition, with Indonesia's Jonatan Christie and Japan's Kodai Naraoka among those who had to deal with late finishes and short recovery periods. China's women's doubles world No. 1 Tan Ning also raised concerns about the scheduling, while the organisers had earlier made changes to the badminton programme after the number of participating athletes changed. However, no official explanation had been issued following the players' latest complaints. (ANI)
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