All England: Below par Sindhu crashes out in the first round

young new delhi: Whether the genus paris Olympics depression was lingering months on, or it was the correct hamstring that was protected with multiple kinesic tapes, PV Sindhu was a pale version of her fighting best at the All England badminton championships at Birmingham on Wednesday.

The 29-year-old belied expectations of a meaningful run into the prestigious tournament after crashing out it in the first round, unable to resist the force that Korea’s Kim Ga-eun rapidly grew into in a contest Sindhu lost 21-19, 13-21, 13-21 in an hour.

Sindhu is a modest world No.16 now, a reflection of her struggles through 2024 and into the new year. She reached the quarterfinals at the India Open in Delhi to start the year, but lost in the first round of Indonesia Masters and then withdrew from the Asia mixed team event due to the hamstring problem. Kim, 27, is a more modest world No.21, and entered the court wearing a knee brace.

Sindhu had won their only previous meeting in 2019, and when Sindhu led 20-12 in the first game, it seemed that she was in control. Then came the Korean’s fightback which saw her save seven game points, pushing Sindhu to either side of the court and using the forehand cross court drop to great effect. It finally took an unforced error by Kim for Sindhu to close out the game.

Playing from the disadvantageous side in the second game, which saw both dish out a series of errors, Sindhu rapidly fell behind. Kim led 7-2, switching from engaging Sindhu in long rallies in the first game to short, snappy exchanges. Sindhu simply could not get past the Korean’s defence that was then converted into clever placements.

Sindhu did rally to 9-10, raising hopes of a fightback, but a 42-shot rally which the Korean won, defending with resolve before pushing deep past a tired Sindhu’s forehand. Sindhu levelled at 12-all due to her opponent’s errors, but she was clearly unable to counter Kim targetting her backhand side. She didn’t reach some of those shots, indicating that the fitness level was far from ideal.

The decider quickly unravelled for Sindhu as Kim was now in full flow. Be it short rallies, lethal flicks, frustrating the former world champion with tremendous defence or clever cross court shots to Sindhu’s backhand, they all mostly found their mark. From 13-19, the Korean raced to victory, reeling off points as she pleased. “One point, one point”, implored her Indonesian coach Irwansyah Adi Pratama courtside at 12-17. Sindu saved one match point, but by then didn’t seem to have any fight left.

In women’s doubles, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand beat Shuo Yun Sung and Chien Hui Yu of Chinese Taipei 21-17, 21-13 to enter the last 16. Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde entered the mixed doubles second round, beating Chinese Taipei’s Ye Hong Wei and Nicole Gonzales Chan 21-10 17-21 24-22.

---

---