India’s top shuttler and two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu suffered yet another setback in her quest for peak match-fitness as she bowed out of the Indonesia Open Super 1000 tournament in the Round of 16 on Thursday. Sindhu went down in straight games, 17-21, 14-21, against world No. 1 and reigning Olympic champion An Se Young, her second loss in as many weeks to the clinical South Korean.
The loss is a frustrating trend for the Indian icon, taking her career winless streak against the top-seeded Korean prodigy to a staggering 10 matches. Sindhu was comprehensively beaten by An in the quarterfinals of the Singapore Open seven days ago but she had a solid opening-round victory over Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan on her side of the draw. But again it was the disparity in court coverage and consistency that proved to be the differentiator in Jakarta between the two star athletes.
The contest began at a brisk pace with Sindhu matching An’s stride and scores locked at 10-10 going into the mid-game interval. Sindhu pushed An back with aggressive strokes and deep baseline drops and took a promising 15-14 lead for a short span of time. But in a testament to her reputation as the most resilient defensive wall in badminton, An adapted her gears with ease. She fired off a critical series of quick points to lead 19-16 before closing out the game after a gruelling 41-shot rally left the Indian looking spent.
An carried that momentum into the second game, leaving Sindhu scrambling from one end of the Istora Senayan court to the other. The World No. 1 quickly found his rhythm, opening up a 13-6 lead. That was a daunting margin, but Sindhu refused to throw in the towel without a fight, throwing everything but the kitchen sink at her opponent and unleashing a couple of trademark thunderous down-the-line smashes to momentarily bring down the deficit.
Eventually, An’s superb defence changes and flawless game curbed Sindhu’s attacking plans. The South Korean finished the 44-minute encounter with little fuss to advance to the quarterfinals, where she will meet Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong. Sindhu’s recent return to the world’s top 10 offers a silver lining but cracks in her ability to handle top-tier defence still exist as the countdown to the season’s major events gets closer.
Debayan Bhattacharyya is a seasoned sports journalist and digital media professional, currently serving as the Chief Sub Editor at ITV Digital (NewsX). A true Football-Fanatic Bong, his professional journey began at Zee Media, where he kicked off his career as a Sub-Editor for the sports team at India.com and CricketCountry. His ability to blend insightful analysis with rapid-fire news delivery soon led him to Times Network, where he served as a Senior Copy Editor for Times Now. Before his current role at NewsX, Debayan spent a significant tenure at OneIndia’s MyKhel as a Senior Sub Editor.
