India's top shuttler PV Sindhu suffered an early exit in the prestigious All England Open Badminton Championship 2024 on Thursday. The world no.1 An Se Young defeated Sindhu in straight sets by 21-19, 21-11 in the round of 16 at Birmingham's Utilita Arena.
India's title hopes in singles now hang on the shoulder of top-ranked Lakshya Sen who defeated Anders Antonsen, seeded fourth, in the round of 16 by 24-22, 11-21, 21-14. He is set to face Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia in the quarter-final round on Friday.
After a poor showing in the 2023 season, the former no.1 Sindhu showed some glimpses of returning to form at the recent Paris Open 2024 before crashing out in the quarter-final round. She defeated Germany's Yvonne Li in the round of 32 at the All England Super 1000 event but was always a second favourite against An Se Young.
An Se Young, the Gold medalist in the latest World Championship and Asian Games, proved her top ranking with a sublime performance against the Indian star. Se Young clinched a 21-19, 21-11 win in just 42 minutes to register her sixth win in six encounters against Sindhu.
"She (Se Young) is, of course, the top player now," Sindhu said after the loss. "But I should have been much more patient, I made unforced errors. There were easy mistakes. In the first game, it was fine but then I was coming closer and then giving away those two three points. But I think in the second set I gave her a huge lead, and then I was making receiving mistakes. It’s important to keep up with her for that we need to work hard and be patient, work hard on our skill and technique."
In doubles, the top-ranked Indian pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty faces Indonesia's Muhammad Shohibul Fikri-Bagas Maulana in the Men's Round of 16 while Tanisha Crasto-Ashwini Ponnappa duo faces Zhand Shu Xian-Zheng Yu in the women's second round on Thursday.
