It was not a happy return to the BWF circuit for double Olympic medalist PV Sindhu as she was completely outplayed by Michelle Li of Canada in the first round of the Arctic Open Super 750 tournament on Tuesday.
PV Sindhu lost to Michelle in straight games 21-16, 21-10. This was Sindhu’s first tournament after the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Sindhu completely looked out of ideas as she was unable to find any rhythm and her decision-making was poor in the first game. The first game started close with Li leading 6-4.
However, Li raced to a big lead of 11-4 aided by Sindhu’s errors on the net and inability to retrieve smashes.
The momentum Li gained with the big lead powered her to the first game win 21-16.
In the second game, Li gave Sindhu no chance and led 11-2 at the mid-game interval. When they returned, Sindhu tried to fight back but Li won the game 21-10 and knocked out PV Sindhu on her return to the BWF circuit.
Malvika stuns world no. 23, Aakarshi moves to second round
While PV Sindhu was knocked out, rising Indian shuttler Malvika Bansod stunned world number 23 Sung Shuo Yun of Chinese Taipei in straight games.
The 23-year-old southpaw won the match 21-19, 24-22 in 57 minutes against her higher-ranked opponent.
This is the third high-profile win for Malvika in the past month after she defeated Paris Olympics bronze medalist Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia and Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland at the China Open.
She will face former world champion Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand in the next round.
Another Indian shuttler Aakarshi Kashyap defeated Yvonne Li of Germany in straight games to move to the next round. She defeated Li 21-19, 21-14.
Aakarshi will face a tough challenge in the second round as she will be up against Olympic medalist Han Yue of China.