Tokyo Olympics: Sindhu loses to Tai Tzu in semifinals, to fight for bronze now
Tokyo: Reigning world champion P V Sindhu's hopes of securing India's first-ever Olympic gold in badminton came crashing down as she slumped to a straight-game defeat against world no.1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei in the women's singles semifinals here on Saturday.
The 26-year-old silver-medallist from the Rio Games, however, remained in the hunt for a bronze medal and will be competing against China's He Bing Jiao in the third place play-off at Musashino Forest Plaza on Sunday.
One of the most consistent players, who claimed medals in all big-ticket events in the last five years, Sindhu couldn't counter Tai Tzu's deception with her aggressive game, going down 18-21 12-21 here.
This is Sindhu's 14th loss to the Taiwanese second seed in 19 meetings, having also lost to her in the last three face-offs.
On Friday, Sindhu, seeded sixth, had beaten Japanese world no.5 Akane Yamaguchi in the quarterfinals.
Earlier, men's singles player B Sai Praneeth and the men's doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy had failed to qualify for the knockout stage.
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Drone that hit British military base caused limited damage: Cyprus
Nicosia (AP): Cyprus' government spokesperson said an “incident” that happened at a British air base on the island nation's southern coastline involved an “unmanned drone which caused limited damage.”
Spokesperson Constantinos Letymbiotis said the incident at RAF Akrotiri occurred shortly after midnight Monday.
He said “information received through various channels” indicated a drone strike.
He didn't specify what kind of drone, where it was launched from or the extent of damage.
Letymbiotis said Cypriot authorities have enacted security protocols and are monitoring the situation in coordination with the UK and its two military bases in Cyprus.
The suspected drone strike occurred after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK would help the US in the war against Iran.
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