'Hurting' badminton star Sindhu says Asian Games schedule 'took toll'

NAGOYA: India's two-time Olympic badminton medalist, P.V. Sindhu, admitted on Monday that the exhaustion from a grueling schedule at the Asian Games was taking a toll on her. The former world champion is among the growing concerns about the tournament's schedule in Nagoya. Sindhu fought off China's Chen Yufei in a tough quarter-final on Sunday, but her victory came at a cost.

The 31-year-old played both her second and third-round matches on Saturday, and returned to the court the following day to face former Olympic champion Chen. After the intense last-eight clash, in which Chen won 11-21, 21-18, 21-10, Sindhu expressed her pain on social media, stating, "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 quarter-final. I keep coming back to those three points," she added. Sindhu, who previously won Olympic silver in 2016 and bronze in 2021, continued, "Letting it slip hurts. 'Three matches in 18 hours. Back at 3:00 am, out again at 8:30 am. It took a toll.'"

Her teammate H.S. Prannoy echoed similar complaints about the scheduling for badminton players at the Games. "It’s cruel because everybody is aiming for a good Asian Games, which comes once in four years," Prannoy said this weekend. "To have two singles games in a day, I haven’t seen it like that in ages."