PV Sindhu, India’s former World Champion and two-time Olympic medallist, lost in 29 minutes to Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung 8-21, 8-21 in the final of the Madrid Spain Masters 2023 at Centro Deportivo Municipal Gallur on Sunday.
IPL FULL COVERAGE | SCHEDULE | RESULTS | ORANGE CAP | PURPLE CAP
This was Sindhu’s first final since she won the gold at the Commonwealth Games last year.
Despite having a dominating 7-0 record against the 23-year-old Indonesian, Sindhu couldn’t deliver her best performance, and missed the opportunity to seize her first crown in eight months.
However, Sindhu had a good campaign in the tournament where she didn’t drop a single game before the final.
In the semifinals, Sindhu defeated Singapore’s Yeo Jia Min, prevailing 24-22,22-20 in the closely-fought 48-minute encounter.
Earlier, she defeated Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark, Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia, and Jenjira Stadelmann of Switzerland in the quarter-finals, pre-quarters and first round, respectively.
This final was also a significant morale boost for Sindhu, who has been struggling for form this season since returning to action following her long injury lay off after Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in August 2022.
Sindhu is the only Indian shuttler left in the Madrid Spain Masters 2023 after Kidambi Srikanth was ousted in the quarterfinals of men’s singles.
PV Sindhu’s appearance in the final was indeed a huge morale boost for her since she has been struggling with her form lately.
Sindhu dropped out of the top 10 rank for the first time since November 2016.
She made first-round exits at the Indian Open and Malaysia Open in January 2023, and failed to defend her Swiss Open Super 300 badminton title earlier this month.
Sindhu currently trains under Vidhi Chaudhary following the exit of Korea’s Park Tae Sang.