PV Sindhu, a decorated two-time Olympic champion, navigated a challenging three-set match on Thursday to knock out Korea’s Sim Yu Jin. By winning 21-13, 12-21, 21-14 in a 59-minute battle, the world No. 15 secured her spot in the Super 500 quarterfinals and recorded her third career win over the world No. 34. The 28-year-old Indian athlete is currently striving to regain her top form following a knee injury suffered in October of last year.
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.
As the fifth seed, Sindhu is set for a revenge match against the tournament's top seed, Han Yue. This follows a recent defeat in Ningbo at the Asia Badminton Championships. While Sindhu's last title win dates back to the 2022 Singapore Open, she enters this match with a dominant 5-1 overall record against the world No. 6 Chinese player.
The opening game was a bit of a struggle for Sindhu, who found herself trailing 3-7 before fighting back to lead 11-10 at the break. She then dominated the closing stretch with a seven-point streak to take the game. The second set was far more balanced, with Sim holding a one-point lead at the midpoint. After the break, the momentum shifted toward the Korean player, who quickly jumped to a 14-10 lead and won seven of the next nine points to steal the set and force a third game.
The deciding game saw Sim take an early 5-1 lead, but Sindhu refused to back down, leveling the score at 6-6. Although Sim briefly led 9-8, Sindhu took control of the match, pushing the lead to 13-9 and eventually sealing the victory with a final five-point run from 16-14 to move into the quarterfinals.
Reports indicate that Sindhu will head to Saarbrucken to train at the Hermann-Neuberger Sportschule in the final weeks leading up to the Olympics. She plans to arrive in the German city about a month before the games begin. For the final ten days of her preparation, she will be joined by coach Prakash Padukone before the duo departs for Paris.
In other tournament news, the Indian mixed doubles team of Sumeeth and Sikki Reddy fell 9-21, 15-21 to the top-seeded Malaysians, Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei. Similarly, Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker were defeated 17-21, 11-21 by the second-seeded Malaysian pair, Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan.