Indian badminton star PV Sindhu made an early exit from the All-England Open 2025 after a first-round loss to South Korea’s Kim Ga Eun in the women’s singles event on Wednesday.
Ranked 16th in the world, Sindhu fell to world No. 21 Kim Ga Eun with a scoreline of 21-19, 13-21, 13-21 in a 61-minute match, as reported by Olympics.com. The 29-year-old started strong, leading 11-7 at the first break and reaching 20-12 in the opening game. Though Kim saved seven game points, Sindhu held on to win the first game. However, the South Korean gained momentum and outplayed Sindhu in the next two games.
Sindhu, playing with a knee strapping, remained competitive in the second game, tied at 12-12, but Kim dominated the latter half to force a decider. In the final game, Kim raced to a 7-1 lead. Sindhu narrowed the gap to 9-7, but Kim maintained her aggressive play to seal the victory.
This marks Sindhu’s second consecutive first-round exit in 2025 and her fourth straight opening-round defeat at the prestigious Super 1000 tournament.
Indian Men’s Doubles Pairs Advance
In men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty overcame a shaky second game, where they trailed 12-7, to defeat Denmark’s Mads Vestergaard and Daniel Lundgaard 21-17, 21-15, securing a place in the pre-quarterfinals.
Women’s doubles duo Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also progressed, defeating Chinese Taipei’s Sung Shuo-Yun and Yu Chien Hui 21-17, 21-13.
However, Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra suffered a heavy 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 eliminated, losing 21-17, 21-14 to Thailand’s Ruttanapak Oupthong and Jhenicha Sudjaipraparat.
Meanwhile, Lakshya Sen and Malvika Bansod, both victorious in their opening singles matches on Tuesday, will compete in the second round on Thursday.
