Badminton Highlights, Paris 2024 Olympics, Day 6 — Aug 1 updates: PV Sindhu loses in straight games to China’s He Bing Jiao in pre-quarterfinals

Lakshya Sen will take on Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen in the men’s singles quarterfinal on August 2 at 18:30. 

The sombre day has turned into worse now. First India’s brightest medal prospect, Satwik-Chirag lost to Chinese Taipei pair Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in hard-fought men’s doubles quarterfinals. HS Prannoy lost to Lakshya Sen in the men’s round of 16 and the latter is the only remaining hope for India in badminton. 

This is it, two-time Olympic medallist, PV Sindhu’s third Olympics campaign comes to an end with a straight-game loss to China’s He Bing Jiao. 

A cross-court smash delays the inevitable. Too much of an ask from Sindhu from here. 

Sindhu was in control of the point up until the very last before letting the shuttle land in. 7 match points for Bing Jiao. 

Bing Jiao shoots it long to concede a point. She hits the net in the net point. 

Make it 11-19 after the Indian hits it long. 

Argggh! Sindhu’s return just lands wide and Bing Jiao is just three points away from taking this match. 

Can Sindhu make a comeback from here? She wins a point this time but needs many more now. 

No, no, no! Bing Jiao had enough space and time to land her smash where ever she wanted and she chose to go for a body smash. 

Make it two points in a row for Sindhu. Six points lead for Bing Jiao. 

One point pulled back from Sindhu. 

Aggressive approach from Bing Jiao to smash her way for a point from the net. 

Sindhu makes an unforced error by hitting it out. Things are not looking pleasant for the Indian. 

Bing Jiao let the shuttle go but it landed in after drifting out. 

A cross-court drive from the net wins Sindhu a point this time around. 

Sindhu makes an error as she hits long beyond the backline. The Indian can not afford these sorts of mistakes now. 

Finally, a point for Sindhu after her return landed in. 

Breaking Bing Jiao’s defence seems almost impossible for Sindhu today. She takes another point to widen her lead to eight points. 

Fast and flat exchanges between He Bing Jiao and Sindhu which went in the Chinese’s favour. 

Bing Jiao will go into the halfway break with a strong six-point lead after Sindhu hits net. 

Back-to-back smashes down the line were enough to break Sindhu’s defence this time. Five-point lead for the Chinese now. 

Four points in a row for Sindhu after Bing Jiao hits wide. Wait, there is a twist, Bing Jiao challenges it and wins it as well as the shuttle lands inside. 

This is what Sindhu can do! She engages Bing Jiao in a long rally and finally goes for the kill with a rapid-fire smash. 

Make it another point for Sindhu as Bing Jiao hits onto the net once again. 

Finally a break in the flow. Jiao hits the net this time. 

Make it seven points in a row for Bing Jiao who wins a point with a smash. 

Bing Jiao’s defence is just unmatched. She dominated Sindhu with her returns and won a point this time. 

Ah, this is getting worse from bad. Her return goes long as she is four points behind Jiao now. 

Another error from Sindhu while receiving the return and Sindhu needs to stop the bleeding of points here. 

Bing Jiao is dictating the pace of the game, she forces an error from Sindhu this time with a down-the-line drivish smash. 

Bing Jiao was way too sharp this time. A timely jump to land her ferocious smash. 

Sindhu shoots high and long over Jiao to concede a point. 

Sindhu levels the score first before getting into the lead after Bing Jiao hits wide in search of an awkward angle for her return. 

Bing Jiao is on the serve and Sindhu will be receiving. The Chinese start with a point with a smash. 

Longest rally of the match and it went Bing Jiao’s way who put everything on her cross-court smash and took the first game home. This first-game loss would hurt Sindhu a lot. What a fight! 

Peak badminton from both players. This point had everything, fitness, power and skill but eventually, it is Bing Jiao who wrongfoot Sindhu to win a point and get a game point for herself. 

Ah, cracking! She jumped, hopped and delivered a near-perfect down-the-line smash which was missed by Bing Jiao. 19-all now. 

Sindhu pulls one back quickly to make it a one-point game. 

A ruthless bodyline smash down the line hits Sindhu. A quick hand of apology followed from Bing Jiao.

A long rally comes to an end with Sindhu finding a skewed angle for her return as Bing Jiao nets it. 

The struggle for Bing Jiao with Birdie drifting away has continued. Another of her returns went long. 

This time Sindu makes the same mistake as her counterpart did in the last point. Three-point lead is intact for the Chinese. 

Bing Jiao hits it long, yet again. 

Down the line smash unsettles Sindhu first and Bing Jiao went for the kill to make it a three-point lead. 

Sindhu misses the drop shot as Bing Jiao doubles her lead. 

Sindhu tries to switch over with charging down to the net for a cheeky return but finds the net. 

A service error from Bing Jiao as the shuttle drifts outside. Parity restored. 

Body smash from Bing Jiao unsettles Sindhu. 

This time Bing Jiao concedes a point in a similar fashion -- puts too much force on her return as it went long. 

Ah, close! Sindhu hits it long to concede a point. 

Bing Jiaon hits the net again and a loud shout followed from Sindhu as she levels the score. 

Bing Jiao keeps her lead intact with a much-needed point but Sindhu has closed it down with a deft net play. 

A risky but worth-taking-it challenge for Sindhu as her cross-court smash landed inside to give her a point. 

Sindhu is on the serve and wins this point after Bing Jiao pushes her return long. 

A fiery smash down the line and Sindhu misses it. Bing Jiao takes a three-point lead at the halfway mark. 

Another fighting rally with Sindhu letting the shuttle drift away. Bing Jiao challenges it but the verdict remains the same -- a point to Sindhu. 

This time Bing Jiao makes an error in judgement while Sindhu lands her return just inside the backline for a point. 

A body smash from the baseline did not do any good for Sindu as Bing Jiao played a wonderful cross to win another point. 

A long rally culminates with He Bing Jiao’s return going beyond the backline. The Chinese challenged and won it as the birdie was in! A point to Bing Jiao. 

Another point and Sindhu is looking to mount a comeback here. 

Sindhu looked at her finest best in this rally. First, she set up a cross-court smash with a down-the-line drive and then angled her smash in a way where Bing Jiao could not do much. 

A cross-court drive from Bing Jiao and Sindhu was just too slow to reach for her return. 

Jiao plays her return very late in anticipation of the birdie drifting out but eventually nets it. 

Sindhu tried for a deft net play but a quickfire powerful drive did not let the Indian win a point here. 

Jiao targets Sindhu’s backhand to force an error from her as the Indian hits this one onto the net. 

Jiao first gets into the lead and doubles her early lead with a down-the-line smash towards Sindhu’s right side. 

Jiao pulls one back quickly to level the score. 

He Bing Jiao on the serve, Sindhu on the receiving end. An error from Jiao gives the first point to Sindhu. 

We are heading towards the live action as He Bing Jiao and PV Sindhu are both here in the middle. 

PV Sindhu: 10

He Bing Jiao: 6

PV Sindhu: 26

He Bing Jiao: 16

Sindhu defeated Chinese He Bing in the bronze medal match at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Leading up to this match, He Bing Jiao held an 11-9 advantage in the head-to-head record against Sindhu, including the win from their most recent meeting - the 2022 Asian Games quarterfinals. 

The live telecast of the Paris Olympics will be available on Sports18 while the live streaming will be available on JioCinema in India from July 26 to August 11.

Hello and welcome to Sportstar’s LIVE coverage of the PV Sindhu vs He Bing Jiao women’s singles pre-quarterfinal at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Stay tuned as we bring you all the live updates.