Singapore Open: PV Sindhu Stunned by Carolina Marin in Thriller Game

Kallang: PV Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist, suffered a second-round defeat in the Singapore Open 2024 BWF Super 750 tournament in Kallang on Thursday.

India’s ace shuttler Sindhu suffered a defeat against world No. 3 Carolina Marin 21-13, 11-21, 20-22 after a three-game nail-biter of one hour and eight minutes.

This was Sindhu’s sixth straight defeat to Marin. The Indian badminton player’s most recent victory came over her Spanish opponent in the Malaysia Open 2018 quarterfinals. When the two shuttlers squared off in the Rio 2016 Olympic final, Marin emerged victorious.

Sindhu, who is now ranked 12th in the world badminton rankings, got the match started well on Thursday. She handily won the opening game by establishing her authority early on. But after winning the second game, world No. 3 Marin found her concentration again and forced a decider.

Even though Sindhu had the advantage of 18-15 at one point in the third game, Marin was able to rally herself back into the nail-biter to wrap up the win. As a result, Marin currently has a 12-6 head-to-head record advantage over Sindhu.
In the second round of the Singapore Open, HS Prannoy, the top men’s singles player in India, was also ousted. Tenth-ranked Prannoy fell to Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto, who is rated eleventh in the world, 21-13, 14-21, 21-15 in 78 minutes.
However, the women’s doubled pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand made it to the quarterfinals, keeping India’s challenge in the tournament alive.

The Indian pair upset second seeds and reigning All England champions Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee to register a 21-9, 14-21, 21-15 victory in a match that lasted for 59 minutes.

The Treesa-Gayatri pair will next face Olympic bronze medallists Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong of South Korea in the quarter-finals on Friday.