Deaflympics 2021: Indian badminton team beats Chinese Taipei in semifinal; assured of medal

The Indian badminton team have assured the country of their first medal at the Deaflympics 2021 having made it to the final at the Caxias do Sul. The Indians beat the team from Chinese Taipei 3-1 in the semifinal. All the three wins for India in the semifinal came after being a game down.

India started the semifinal on the backfoot as the mixed doubles pair of Abhinav Sharma and Aaditya Yadav went down 17-21, 14-21 in the first match of the encounter in 38 minutes.

With the pressure firmly on her to get India back into the contest, Jerlin Jayaratchagan, who is yet to lose a women's singles match at the ongoing Deaflympics, hit back with a resounding 14-21, 21-19, 21-18 victory to help India draw level at 1-1 against Yan Ru Shen.

Once they were allowed a sniff, the Indians refused to let the momentum slip. Following the footsteps of Jerlin, Abhinav Sharma too came from a game down to win 19-21, 21-18, 21-10 to put India in the lead.

With a spot in the final just one match win away, the women's doubles duo of Jerlin and Aaditya slipped a bit and conceded the first game 20-22. But, the pair soon got their act together to win the next two games 23-21 and 21-17 to assure India of their first medal at the Deaflympics 2021.

India will now take on the winner on Japan, who defeated South Korea 3-2 in the second semifinal for the gold medal.