Paris 2024: Thulasimathi Murugesan gets silver Women’s Badminton Singles SU5
India’s Thulasimathi Murugesan got the silver medal in the Women’s Badminton Singles SU5 event on Monday, September 2 after losing the final to China’s Yang Qiuxia.
Yang was the defending champion in the event and was able to weather the storm from the Indian star in 30 minutes and win the match 21-17, 21-10 in Paris. Thulasimathi was the first Indian to reach the final of the women’s badminton event after beating compatriot Manisha Ramadass.
It was a fast start to the first game with both women exchanging points with things level at 4-4 in quick time. Thulasimathi was able to build a 2-point lead but Yang was remaining hot on her heels, constantly cutting the deficit. The longest rally till the half of the first game being 19 strokes.
Thulasimathi was able to head into the break of the first game with a 11-8 lead. Yang was able to cut the lead down to a point after the restart, but the Indian bounced back and made it 15-12 with some brilliant shots.
However, Yang made a stunning comeback to make it 15-15 in quick time, with the pressure on Thulasimathi. The Chinese star would then take the lead and make it 17-15 in her favour as Thulasimathi’s coach told her to remain calm.
She was able to end the 6-0 run of Yang and started to make up for lost ground with the lead being cut down to a point. However, the Chinese star ran away with the game in the end with a 21-17 win in just 16 minutes.
Yang made a fiery start to the second game but Thulasimathi was able to make it 3-3 quickly and would then take the lead. However, the defending champion would take the lead to and extend it to 9-5 as the Indian star was looking for fresh ideas. The mid-game break saw Thulasimathi trail 11-5.
The restart saw Thulasimathi make a bright run but the lead was well in favour of Yang who had a 15-9 advantage. Unforced errors kept on haunting Thulasimathi as the lead was 17-9. In the end, the defending champion retained her crown and finished the second game in 13 minutes.
Manisha was able to win the bronze medal after beating Cathrine Rosengren 21-12, 21-8. This meant India’s medal tally went into double figures as they have 11 now with 2 gold, 4 silver and 5 bronze.