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PV Sindhu’s bid for a record sixth World Championships medal ended with an 11-21, 21-15, 17-21 defeat to China’s Wang Zhiyi in the round of 16 at the Indira Gandhi Arena. Ayush Shetty went out on the same evening, ending India’s singles campaign in New Delhi. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty came from a game down to keep the host nation’s medal hopes alive in men’s doubles.
New Delhi, India: Her unbeaten run against Chinese opponents at these championships ended at 16-16 in the decider, in front of a crowd that had spent 88 minutes willing her forward.
Sindhu came into the round of 16 as the ninth seed and a five-time World Championships medallist — gold in 2019, silver in 2017 and 2018, bronze in 2013 and 2014 — chasing a sixth that no woman has managed. Wang Zhiyi, the world No. 3 and third seed, had lost to her at exactly this stage a year ago. This time the Chinese found the answers.
One-Sided, Then Not
The opening game gave little hint of what followed. Sindhu actually led 11-9 at the interval, then produced six unforced errors after the break and lost the game 21-11.
The second was the passage that made the match. Level at 15-15, Sindhu reeled off six consecutive points to force a decider, producing some of her best attacking badminton of the week.
Six Points From the End
She carried it into the third. Sindhu led 13-10, and when Wang pulled level at 16-16 the Indian had already twice looked the more likely winner.
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Then came a medical break for Wang at 16-16, interrupting a phase Sindhu had been controlling. Wang won five of the final six points. The errors that had cost Sindhu the opening game returned at the least forgiving moment.
Sindhu declined to use the stoppage as an explanation. “You can’t win all the time, but you should take it well,” she said afterwards.
Ayush Shetty’s Week Ends Too
The consolation India had carried into Thursday disappeared within the hour. Ayush Shetty, who had removed top seed and defending champion Shi Yuqi in the opening round in the result of the tournament, lost 19-21, 11-21 to Indonesia’s Alwi Farhan.
The 21-year-old had looked, briefly, like the story of India’s championships. Instead his exit alongside Sindhu’s leaves the host nation with no singles player in either draw.
Satwik-Chirag Carry What’s Left
India’s medal hopes now rest entirely on the doubles court, and specifically on Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who dropped the opening game against Malaysia’s Junaidi Arif and Yap Roy King before recovering to win in three.
Elsewhere, Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin came through 21-17, 21-17 against Chinese Taipei’s Chiu Hsiang Chieh and Wang Chi-Lin in the men’s doubles, while China’s world No. 1 women’s pair Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning beat Bulgaria’s Gabriela and Stefani Stoeva 21-16, 21-18.
A Championship Without Its Hosts
For India, staging these championships for the first time since 2009 was meant to be an occasion. Instead both singles draws have emptied of Indians before the quarterfinals — and the man who produced the tournament’s biggest upset, knocking out the defending champion, is among those gone.
Sindhu’s five medals have come in her teens, her twenties and her thirties. A sixth would have been the record. At 31, in front of a home crowd, this was the setting she would have chosen for it.
Results — Round of 16
Wang Zhiyi (CHN) d. PV Sindhu (IND) 21-11, 15-21, 21-17
Alwi Farhan (INA) d. Ayush Shetty (IND) 21-19, 21-11
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty (IND) d. Junaidi Arif/Yap Roy King (MAS) in three games
Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin (MAS) d. Chiu Hsiang Chieh/Wang Chi-Lin (TPE) 21-17, 21-17
Liu Shengshu/Tan Ning (CHN) d. Gabriela Stoeva/Stefani Stoeva (BUL) 21-16, 21-18
Venue: Indira Gandhi Arena, New Delhi
