Manila: India's most celebrated shuttler PV Sindhu lost her cool at chair umpire and referee in the semi-final match of Badminton Asian Championships over an 'unfair' decision on Saturday.
In the semi-final match, the two-time Olympic medallist lost 21-13, 19-21, 16-21 to the reigning world champion Japan's Akane Yamaguchi and settled for bronze medal.
The Indian ace was one game up and was leading 14-11 in the second set. The incident happened when she was a handed a point penalty for taking too much time to serve.
The umpire's call led Sindhu to an argument with chair umpire, where she said she didn't serve as her opponent was not ready. But her plea was not entertained by umpire and referee.
After the incident, Sindhu lost her momentum, which Akane capitalised in her favour and took the match into decider and thus, ended with a win.
In the post match presentation, Sindhu couldn't hold back her anger and said: "The umpire told me you're taking a lot of time but the opponent wasn't ready at that point. But the umpire suddenly gave her the point and it was really unfair. I think that was one of the reasons why I lost. I mean that is my feeling because at that moment it was 14-11 and could have become 15-11 but instead it became 14-12 and she took continuous points. And I think it was very unfair. Maybe I would have won the match and I would have played in the final."
"I told the chief referee but he said it's already done. I think as a chief referee, as the head of the referees, he should have at least seen what the mistake was and seen the replay and he should have done something about it."
In a photo circulated on social media, Sindhu was seen absent from the presentation ceremony and netizens are speculating that she had decided to silently boycott the ceremony. (UNI)
