Not counting her walkover due to injury at the 2022 edition in Tokyo, PV Sindhu has never lost a completed match against Chinese opponents at the BWF World Championships. It is a stunning statistic that summarises her brilliant record at the marquee event, where she has won five medals.
But the streak will be tested to the fullest on Thursday in Paris, where she faces world No.2 Wang Zhi Yi. For the Indian superstar to stand any chance, she’d have to be at her best from the word go. On Wednesday, Sindhu once again overcame a slow start to defeat Letshanaa Karupathevan from Malaysia 21-19, 21-15 in 43 minutes.
There are a couple of ways to look at Sindhu’s campaign at the 2025 edition thus far. One, the most obvious, is that she is through to the round of 16 without dropping a game against her two lower-ranked opponents. That was broadly what was expected from her.
The other, slightly more concerning, is the slow starts she has made to both her matches. On another day, or two, she might have been made to pay… perhaps been forced to play three games and waste unnecessary fuel at the start of the tournament.
In her opening-round match against Bulgarian teenager Kalyona Nalbantova, Sindhu trailed 7-12 at one stage and then faced two game points before the youngster snatched at the chance to take the lead.
It was even more precarious on Wednesday against Letshanaa, who was up 18-12 in the opener on the back of some impressive attacking play. But on both occasions, the Indian held her nerve – and just as importantly, her younger opponents rushed at chances to close it out – to take the lead. Once she pocketed the opener, however, Sindhu’s attacking strengths saw her sail through the second game.
She blew away Nalbantova with a flurry of cross-court smashes, while against Letshanaa it required the use of her pace variations, with coach Irwansyah’s inputs in the intervals coming handy. On Day 1, it was perhaps a combination of unknowns – an opponent she couldn’t have seen much of before and playing at the arena for the first time.
“Once I understood the court, I think I was playing my game. First game in the tournament, first match, it definitely took me some time to get used to it (the playing conditions),” Sindhu had told AFP on Tuesday.
Different approach
While she could hit her way out of trouble against Nalbantova, against Letshanaa, it required more tactical guile. The Malaysian was hitting some wonderfully precise smashes to either flank of Sindhu, and the Indian seemed a yard off the pace in defence.
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Scrambling around on the court often, Sindhu was unable to dictate the tempo of rallies as much as she would have liked. But all that changed from 12-18 down as she reeled off six straight points with a nervous Letshanaa unable to keep up her earlier attacking tempo. One smash echoed off Sindhu’s racket after she nailed it down the line.
When coach Irwansyah walked over to Sindhu during the interval, he had a smile on his face, of satisfaction that his ward was able to turn things around. Sindhu nodded back, understanding what she had to do right.
“No net?”
“Yes. Don’t start slow, don’t follow her tempo.”
Sindhu was aware of taking the first game, as it freed her of any unnecessary pressure.
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“It was very important for me to win the first game, I have managed quite well given the conditions. But I hope I don’t make unforced errors from the beginning and be focused in the next match,” Sindhu told olympics.com. “From 12 to 18 in Game 1, I kept pumping myself up, that it was not over. I was alert from the start in Game 2, once I knew how she was playing, I was able to maintain the lead.”
That should well be Sindhu’s mantra when she faces Wang in the Round of 16. She has a 2-2 record against the current world No.2, but both of her wins came well before Wang became the outright second-best player in the world. If not for the machine that is An Seyoung, she could have had a few more titles to her name.
Wang’s style is often likened to Chen Yufei’s, a strong all-round game with no glaring weakness. And a physical ability to even push the likes of An to the limits as one saw in the epic All England final earlier this year.
Sindhu’s proud record of winning all her matches against Chinese opponents at the World Championships – some of the biggest names to have played the game – will perhaps face its sternest test yet because of the current gap between the two players. But if she can mix the adaptability she has shown so far with a faster start, there might yet be a chance.
