PV Sindhu, a two-time Olympic winner, overcame a scare before defeating Korea’s Sim Yu Jin in three games to advance to the quarterfinals of the Malaysia Masters Super 500 badminton competition here on Thursday. World No.15 Sindhu, a former world champion, defeated Sim 21-13, 12-21, 21-14 in a women’s singles second-round battle that lasted 59 minutes, earning her third victory against the Korean world number 34. Since returning to action following a knee injury sustained in October last year, the 28-year-old Indian shuttler has struggled to find his best form.
Sindhu, seeded fifth, will next play top-seed Han Yue in a revenge match. The Chinese player had defeated Sindhu in their previous clash at the Asia Badminton Championships in Ningbo last month. Sindhu, who last won a championship at the 2022 Singapore Open, has a 5-1 record versus Han, who is now rated World No.6.
Sindhu was left to catch up work in the opening game, as she trailed 3-7. However, she fought her way back and took a slim 11-10 lead at the break. The star Indian shuttler then produced a brilliant play, scoring seven straight points to win the first game. The second game was a close one as the two fought hard with Sim holding a one-point lead at halftime. She seized the momentum following the resumption. The Korean quickly led 14-10 and went on to win seven of the next nine points to pull back into the game, forcing a decider.
Sim started well again, leading 5-1 in the decider. But Sindhu clawed back to 6-6 before the Korean went up 9-8 at one point. The Indian then seized charge, going up 13-9 before closing with a five-point run from 16-14 to win the contest and reach the quarterfinals.
According to reports, Sindhu would spend her pre-Olympic weeks training at the Hermann-Neuberger Sportschule in Saarbrucken. The Indian shuttler will fly to the southwestern German city a little more than a month before the Olympics. Coach Prakash Padukone is expected to join her for the final 10 days of her preparation before they travel to Paris for the Olympics.
In other results, the mixed doubles pair of Sumeeth Reddy and Sikki Reddy lost 9-21, 15-21 to the top-seeded Malaysian pair of Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei, while Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker lost 17-21, 11-21 to second-seeded Malaysians Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan in the women’s doubles.
