PV Sindhu Exits Asian Leg with R1 Loss: PV Sindhu will play in a competitive match at the Olympics in Paris the next time he takes the court. The Indian ace lost to Wen Chi Hsu in the opening round of the Super 1000 tournament at the Indonesia Open on Wednesday, which was a disappointing way to go. And now that she has lost 15-21, 21-15, 14-21, Sindhu needs to start preparing for Paris.
With three tournaments scheduled to try to raise her ranking, Sindhu had an unusual Asian leg. She had a good experience at the Malaysia Masters, making it to the final in Kuala Lumpur after battling through three tough games against Sim Yu Jin, Han Yue, and Busanan Ongbamrungphan. She held a comfortable lead over Wang Zhi Yi in the decider, and a title was within her reach, but she gave up ground in the closing stages.
Singapore is up next. A much-anticipated rematch with Carolina Marin was scheduled. A true test before Paris, a chance to defeat her adversary after six years (who, it turned out, was also nursing a niggle)… And once again, she blew a sizable lead in the final. It was a squandered chance following Malaysia’s peak.
Next up, Indonesia. In the second round, Marin was there once more. If Sindhu could just defeat Hsu in the first round, she would have a brief opportunity to redeem herself. The Chinese Taipei shuttler has not fared well against Sindhu in their previous encounters, dropping three straight games. Due to the extreme imbalance in the Head-to-Head, Hsu had never scored more than 15 points in a game versus Sindhu.
At the Istora Senayan, however, things were different as Hsu scored 16 points while Sindhu only had 6. In those early exchanges, the former world champion was just unable to purchase a point.
After that, Sindhu did manage to rally, scoring six points in a row to regain some momentum. However, the first game had already done the harm.
Sindhu would not lead for the first time until the second game’s midway point, when the score was 11–10. She appeared to be back in control as she finished the game with a 21–15 lead.
Although both players put on some incredible rallies in the opening stages of the third game, Sindhu took the early advantage (9–6). However, a backline error that has been happening more and more recently cost her the opportunity to lead 11-9 heading into the last change of ends. Rather, Hsu assumed control, and Sindhu’s resistance collapsed once more in the decider’s final stages.
Prior to Paris, Sindhu has been scheduled for a training camp in Germany, and it’s clear her support staff has a lot on their minds.
She may be in good physical condition, but there are discrepancies in other areas. Sindhu, who is well known for her Olympic preparations, will be looking to make history once again as she steps into the zone. She has never been burdened down by form coming up to a major before, and it is this that she needs to channel into once more.
Meanwhile, in their women’s doubles first round match, Canada’s Jackie Dent and Crystal Lai were defeated 21-15, 21-15 by the Paris-bound tandem of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa to advance to the next round. On Tuesday, the following players won their opening-round matches: Lakshya Sen, Priyanshu Rajawat, Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand, and Sumeeth Reddy-Sikki Reddy.
