Ace shuttler PV Sindhu has recently created history by winning her first ever silver in the women’s singles at the World Badminton Championships held in Glasgow. In the process, she became the first Indian to win 3 medal at this prestigious event, having won bronze medals in 2013 and 2014.
Although Sindhu lost out to Japanese shuttler Nozomi Okuhara 19-21, 22-20, 20-22 in the final this year, her performance was well appreciated by Indian fans. It was so close a game that it could have been anyone’s. The exhilarating match also erupted a controversy as Sindhu was issued a Yellow Card by the umpire.
In the third game of the match, both the players looked quite tired as they were giving in their everything for each point as if it was the match point. Sindhu regularly took breaks during the points, until she was finally awarded Yellow Card after a few warnings.
For the uninitiated, a yellow card is given for misconduct and breach of laws. Instances that lead to Yellow Card include throwing racket into the opponent’s court, sliding under the net, leaving the court without the umpire’s permission, coaching while the shuttle is in play and deliberately causing delay. Sindhu was charged for causing repeated delay despite warnings.
Sindhu did not lose her focus even after receiving the Yellow Card and continued to play well only to lose the gold medal by a whisker.
Two days have passed since the match but Twitterati is still having serious discussions over Sindhu’s Yellow Card. While some say that she should leave behind the unfortunate incident and focus on future tournaments, some others say that the chair umpire behaved like a school teacher. A few opined that Sindhu would have won the Gold if not for the Yellow Card.