P.V Sindhu has had a hot and cold return to the international stage following a long injury break last year. After a run of disappointing tournaments, including multiple early exits, India’s star shuttler has shown a glimpse of her old self at the Round of 16 match at the BWF World Championships.
She caused an upset as she beat World No. 2 Wang Zhi Yi with a dominating performance. A straight set 21-17, 21-15 victory secured Sindhu’s berth in the quarter-finals of the prestigious tournament. This is her first time in the last three years to have reached the quarters of the Championships since 2021.
Aggressive from the very start, Sindhu was relentless with her attack against the Chinese opponent. After beating relatively weaker opposition in the first two rounds of the tournament—World No. 69 Kaloyana Balbantova and World No. 40 Karupathevan Letshanaa, respectively, Sindhu made sure that she was on the offense from the get go in her third game in Paris.
One more win for the Indian shuttler will secure a medal. Her next match is against Indonesian shuttler Putri Kusuma, World no. 9, on Friday.
Speaking to the media after the game Sindhu said
“When I went into the court, my opponent was like any other player. It was never going to be easy, in World Championships you have to fight for every point. Wang Zhi is a top athlete but I wasn’t thinking about her (seeding) ahead of the game. It was a fresh match for me. I knew I had to keep the shuttle in the court, I knew there would be long rallies. My focus was on that. When I found out my match was against Wang Zhi I thought ‘irrespective of the result I need to give my 100%’.”
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