Indian shuttler PV Sindhu crashed out of the ongoing All-England Open 2025 badminton tournament after losing to South Korea’s Kim Ga Eun in the first round of the women’s singles event on Wednesday.
Sindhu, ranked 16th in women’s singles badminton, went down to world number 21 Kim Ga Eun with a scoreline of 21-19, 13-21, 13-21 in a contest that lasted 61 minutes, according to Olympics.com.
The 29-year-old Indian badminton player looked in fine touch at the start of the first game but lost steam as the match progressed. Sindhu was 11-7 up at the first break and had the game in her grasp with a 20-12 lead. Kim Ga Eun lost the game despite saving seven game points but built enough momentum to trouble Sindhu in the next game.
Sindhu, who played with a strapping on her right knee, and Kim were neck-and-neck in the second game, tied at 12-12. However, like in the first game, Kim Ga Eun dominated the final stretch of the second game to level the contest.
Kim Ga Eun burst to a 7-1 lead in the decider. Sindhu did close the gap to 9-7, but the South Korean shuttler continued with her strategy of going hard after the break to progress to the next round.
This marks Sindhu’s second consecutive first-round exit of the year and her fourth straight opening-round defeat at the prestigious Super 1000 event.
Later in the day, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty overcame a minor stumble in the second game, where they trailed 12-7, to defeat Denmark’s Mads Vestergaard and Daniel Lundgaard 21-17, 21-15, securing a spot in the men’s doubles pre-quarterfinals.
In women’s doubles, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand advanced with a 21-17, 21-13 win over Chinese Taipei’s Sung Shuo-Yun and Yu Chien Hui, according to Olympics.com.
However, Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra crashed out after a 21-9, 21-4 defeat to South Korea’s Baek Ha-Na and Lee So-Hee.
Paris 2024 Olympian Tanisha Crasto and her mixed doubles partner were also ousted, going down to Thailand’s Ruttanapak Oupthong and Jhenicha Sudjaipraparat 21-17, 21-14.
Lakshya Sen and Malvika Bansod, both victorious in their opening singles matches on Tuesday, will compete in the second round on Thursday.
