Indian badminton player PV Sindhu, who is a double Olympic medallist, fought bravely, but in the end, her efforts were in vain as India lost to Chinese Taipei in the opening round of the Sudirman Cup on Sunday.
Despite a strong start from Tanisha Crasto and K Sai Prateek in the mixed doubles contest, they were unable to maintain their momentum, losing 21-18 24-26 6-21 to Yang Po-Hsuan and Hu Ling Fang, both ranked world no. 30.
HS Prannoy, ranked world no. 9, then couldn’t find his form, losing 19-21 15-21 to Chou Tien Chen, who is world no. 5, as India fell behind 0-2 after the first two matches.
PV Sindhu was then tasked with bringing India back into the tie, but it was going to be a tough job with her rival and former world no. 1 Tai Tzu Ying as her opponent.
Although the 27-year-old from Hyderabad, who has not been in good form recently, showed a lot of courage, she lost 21-14 18-21 21-17 to Tai Tzu after one hour and four minutes.
Indian players’ losses in the opening round allowed Chinese Taipei to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match tie.
In the past, Sindhu has defeated Tai Tzu, but it was back in 2019 when she won the world championships title. Overall, it was her 18th defeat to Haochong player Tai Tzu.
This season, Sindhu’s best finish so far has been as the runner-up of the Spain Masters, but her overall game looked significantly more polished as she made a strong comeback in the second and third game after losing the first.
In the third game, Tai Tzu and Sindhu were neck-and-neck at 6-6. Although Tai Tzu managed to gain a 9-6 edge, Sindhu was still looking for ways to trouble the Taipei wizard.
A forehand-angled drive helped Sindhu even the score at 10-10 before her opponent took a one-point lead into the break.
After the break, Sindhu led 14-12, but she made two mistakes sending the shuttle to the net, so now Tai Tzu has a 15-14 lead. As Tai Tzu gained momentum, Sindhu made another error, and the score became 17-14.
Despite Sindhu saving two match points, Tai Tzu won the match by unleashing a quick return off the Indian’s serve.