With Saina Nehwal knocked out and Srikanth having to face Lin Dan in the quarter finals, not much was expected from the badminton contingent. But P.V. Sindhu had different ideas, she was ready to forget all the off court talk and concentrate on the task at hand, which was dismantling the World number 2 for a spot in the last 4. And that is exactly what she did.
Trailing all through the first game, Sindhu finally got a foothold in the first game during the dying stages and played the important points much better than her opponent to clinch the opening game. The second game was all smooth sailing for Sindhu until she was leading 18-13, when she had a major brain freeze to let Wang Yihan go 19-18 up. But she came back and how. Sindhu took the next three points to clinch a historic win over the world number 2 and give a billion people renewed hopes of a medal at Rio.
Here we look at some of the best Twitter reactions as Sindhu reached the semi final
Thank you Sindhu for bringing a smile on our faces. Really needed that in what has been a dismal #Olympics so far for us
— India_AllSports (@India_AllSports) August 16, 2016
PV Sindhu Beats Wang Yihan. Becomes The 2nd #IND Woman To Reach An #Olympics #Badminton Semi Final Since Saina Nehwal In 2012.#Rio2016
— Meethi Chhuri (@riya043) August 16, 2016
https://twitter.com/Thecricprof/status/765696111478734848
Sindhu – not thinking of a medal, if I win matches that will happen anyway!
— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) August 16, 2016
Sindhu's father PV Ramanna took eight months off to help his daughter prepare, drove her every day at 4am to Gopi academy
— Digvijay Singh Deo (@DiggySinghDeo) August 16, 2016
That's what victory feels like. What a win! #Sindhu #Rio2016 pic.twitter.com/RU6izIpkvS
— Ashish Magotra (@clutchplay) August 16, 2016
She now faces the winner from the all Japanese Quarter final
#Rio2016 | Victory in Thursday's S/F will assure a Silver,defeat will place Sindhu in Bronze medal playoff https://t.co/ldAJGqJmax
— News18 (@CNNnews18) August 16, 2016
The way Sindhu was prepared for having those long rallies really showed that this was something she really needed and hopefully she can guarantee India it’s first medal at Rio by barging into the finals later tomorrow