Basel (Switzerland): Ace Indian shuttler P. V. Sindhu stunned third seed Japanese counterpart Nozomi Okuhara 21-7, 21-7 to become the first Indian to bag a gold medal at World Championships.
After taking a monstrous lead, Sindhu took the first game home by 21-7 after outplaying and outwitting Nozomi Okuhara. The ace Indian shuttler had 13 game points before winning the first game.
In the second game, Sindhu added a seven point advantage as she went in the second mid-break game with the score reading 11-4. Continuing her dominance, Sindhu won the second game 21-7. Playing a confident, one-sided final, Sindhu put 2017 World Championships final behind her to ultimately beat Okuhara 21-7, 21-7.
Sindhu's gold is the second medal that India won at the Worlds this year with Sai Praneeth winning a bronze in men's singles category.
The last time Sindhu and Okuhara met in a World Championships final was in 2017. In a pulsating encounter that lasted nearly two hours and involved a 73-shot rally, Okuhara emerged victorious in the end. Sindhu again reached the final in 2018, only to go down to Carolina Marín of Spain. However, she finally broke the jinx this time, brushing aside her opponent with a dominant show from start to finish.
Earlier, marching towards the summit clash, Sindhu first defeated former World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying in the quarters and then secured a comfortable straight games victory over All England Champion Chen Yu Fei in the semis.
