Paris | Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu's quest for a sixth World Championships medal ended on Friday after losing a hard-fought three-game quarterfinal thriller to Indonesia's Putri Kusuma Wardani.
Sindhu, the 2019 world champion and five-time medallist at the event, was eyeing a record sixth podium finish but faltered at the finishing line, losing 14-21 21-13 16-21 to ninth seed Wardani in a pulsating 64-minute contest.
Earlier in the day, the Indian mixed doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto bowed out after losing 15-21 13-21 to world No. 4 Malaysians Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei, ending India's hopes of a maiden mixed doubles medal at the showpiece.
Sindhu, the 30-year-old from Hyderabad had won her maiden medal in Guangzhou in 2013. She added another bronze in Copenhagen a year later to her tally, finished runner-up in Glasgow (2017) and Nanjing (2018), before scripting history with gold at Basel in 2019.
Sindhu, the only Indian to win Olympic medals in consecutive Games — silver at Rio 2016 and bronze at Tokyo 2020 — has endured a difficult run since lifting the 2022 Commonwealth Games crown. The Singapore Open that year was her last notable title.
Injuries, a slide in rankings and frequent coaching changes have stifled her rhythm in the buildup to the Paris Olympics, where her dream of a third Olympic medal ended prematurely.
Training under Indonesian coach Muhammad Irwansyah, she has continued to search for consistency on the tour, but results have remained elusive.
Against Wardani, with whom she shared a 2-2 career record before the match, Sindhu struggled to close out the big points. The Indonesian, 23, showed composure in crunch moments to assure herself of a maiden Worlds medal.
Wardani was the sharper player in the opening game, using angles and smashes to put Sindhu under pressure. After the score was tied at 3-3, a flurry of errors from the Indian allowed the Indonesian to seize control, moving into the mid-game break 11-7. Wardani extended her dominance to 18-9 as Sindhu repeatedly went wide and long, before pocketing the opener 21-14 when the Indian pushed one out with a broken string.
Sindhu roared back in the second game, tightening her net play and finding her range on the smashes. From 4-2 up, she stormed to a 16-6 lead as Wardani's game unravelled. Sindhu closed the game 21-13 with a booming cross-court winner, drawing level in style.
In the decider, Sindhu fell 0-3 behind before unleashing relentless, aggressive returns to finally crack Wardani's defence. The Indonesian went long, making it 3-3.
Wardani managed to defend stubbornly, but at 5-4 she wilted under Sindhu's pressure. A gripping 59-shot rally followed — Wardani blunting everything thrown at her until she finally netted to hand the point to Sindhu.
Sindhu then produced a deceptive push over Wardani's head, only for the 23-year-old to hit back with a smash and level at 7-7.
Momentum swung back and forth as a tight net exchange drew an error from Sindhu, before she recovered at 8-8 with a dogged defensive stand, and sealed the rally with a brilliant cross-court smash.
Wardani lobbed cleverly to equalise at 9-9, and then took control. Sindhu was called for a foul when her racquet crossed the net during a duel, and Wardani followed up with a sharp front-court winner to go into the interval two points up.
Resuming from the same end where she had won the second game, Sindhu struck first with a spinning net shot. But Wardani responded with perfect placement, and after Sindhu sent one into the net, the Indonesian stretched her lead to 15-11.
Sindhu kept fighting, narrowing it to 15-16 with a wide smash from Wardani and another fine net shot. But just as she closed in, Wardani landed a body smash, though she immediately cancelled it out with a net error — 17-16.
The Indonesian then struck a precise smash deep to Sindhu's forehand, followed by a costly misjudgement from the Indian at the backline, which established a three-point cushion for Wardani.
When Sindhu netted, Wardani brought up four match points. Sindhu went wide again to draw curtains on the match.
