It was heartbreak for P V Sindhu at the World Badminton Championships. The Indian shuttler had to settle for a second consecutive bronze medal after succumbing to Carolina Marin of Spain in the semi-finals, in Copenhagen, on Saturday.
Seeded 11th, Sindhu failed in her bid to become the first Indian woman shuttler to reach the final of the World Championships, as her battle against the ninth seeded Spaniard ended in a 17-21, 15-21 defeat at the Ballerup Super Arena.
A bronze medallist at the last edition, she raised hopes of bettering the colour of her medal this year but could not produce the same resilience and grit that saw her edge out sixth seed Korean Yeon Ju Bae and All England Champion Shixian Wang in the previous rounds.
Playing only her second World Championships, the 19-year-old Sindhu, who won a bronze at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow early this month, could not find a way out of the long, fast-paced rallies played by the left-handed Marin.
However, Sindhu became the first player to win two bronze medals at the World Championships.
Badminton legend Prakash Padukone won the men's singles bronze in 1983, while Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa won bronze in the women's doubles in 2011.
Sindhu, who won two grand Prix Gold titles at Malaysia and Macau last year, had finished at the semi-finals stage of 2012 China Super Series Premier, and 2010 and 2013 India Super Series.
