PV Sindhu suffered yet another disappointing defeat to her long-time rival Carolina Marin in the second round of the Singapore Open. Despite winning the first game 21-13, Sindhu was not able to get over the line as the Spaniard displayed great resilience to come back and win the match in three games. This was her sixth straight defeat to Marin, who is currently ranked 3rd in the world.
The Indian shuttler had a 15-10 advantage in the deciding game, but Marin was too determined to secure the win. She made her way back and grabbed five out of the last six points to win the deciding game and move into the next round. PV Sindhu had set the match up with Marin after winning her first-round fixture against Hojmark Kjaersfeldt. She looked in great momentum and looked set to win her first game against Marin since 2018.
The defeat comes as a major disappointment to PV Sindhu as she is set to represent India at the Olympics in less than two months. Heading into the games, the two-time Olympic medallist has failed to finish at the top of the podium in the last two years. The last time she finished with the gold medal at a tournament was in 2022. However, Sindhu’s performance against Marin was an indication of things to come in the future. She played with tenacity and put in a stellar fight against Marin, who is arguably one of the greatest female shuttles in the history of the sport.
PV Sindhu is one of India’s medal prospects
PV Sindhu is heading into her third Olympic campaign with the hopes of creating history. She already has two medals at the game, but a third one would cement her place as an all-time great Olympian in Indian history. Sindhu already has a silver and bronze to her name, she only needs a gold to become the only Indian to win all three medals at the Olympics.
While this is an extremely difficult task to achieve, she is one of the only people who can even attempt doing that. She is the torchbearer of women’s sports in the country and a big motivation to anyone trying to achieve big things for India. Sindhu will be leading the badminton quartet, which has other medal prospects like Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy. But it is her experience that makes her the favourite to return with a medal from Paris.
