PV Sindhu sweats hard to reach the quarters of Malaysian Open

By
Teja Devathoti
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5
PV Sindhu

Returning to action after more than a month, PV Sindhu overcame a tricky opening round against Scottish veteran Kirsty Gilmour at Malaysia Masters Super 500 on Wednesday. Also entering the round of 16 were Ashmita Chaliha, Kiran George, Sumeeth Reddy-Sikki Reddy, and Krishna Prasad Garaga-Sai Pratheek.

PV Sindhu’s hard fought win

Sindhu beat the world No 22 21-17 21-16 in a slugfest that lasted 46 minutes. With the rest of India’s Paris Olympics-bound shuttlers not in action in Kuala Lumpur, Sindhu’s return to action is the headliner. And she needed to be sharp against the European silver medallist. Gilmour has the game (and recent form) to trouble Sindhu consistently in rallies, but perhaps wasn’t sharp enough over the course of the match.

In a stunning upset, 24-year-old Ashmita Chaliha, ranked world number 53, defeated the 10th-ranked Beiwen Zhang of the USA. Chaliha triumphed 21-19, 16-21, 21-12 in a match lasting 43 minutes.

However, the Indian women’s doubles duo of Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker were eliminated in the second round, losing 21-17, 21-11 to the Malaysian pair Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan in a 37-minute match. Additionally, the Indian women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also exited the competition after a hard-fought loss to the Chinese Taipei pair Yu Chien Hui and Sung Shuo Yun, with scores of 18-21, 22-20, 14-21.

The Malaysia Masters, a Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Super 500 level tournament, is being held from May 21 to 26 in Kuala Lumpur. PV Sindhu has previously won the women’s singles title at the Malaysia Masters twice, in 2013 and 2016, while Saina Nehwal secured the title in 2017.

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