Battling Sindhu falls to Wardani in last-8

Paris: Two-time Olympics medallist PV Sindhu’s quest for a sixth World Championships medal ended on Friday after losing a hard-fought three-game quarterfinal thriller to Indonesia’s Putri Kusuma Wardani.

Sindhu, the 2019 world champion and five-time medallist at the event, was eyeing a record sixth podium finish but faltered at the finishing line, losing 14-21 21-13 16-21 to ninth seed Wardani in a pulsating 64-minute contest.

Earlier in the day, the Indian mixed doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto bowed out after losing 15-21 13-21 to world No. 4 Malaysians Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei, ending India’s hopes of a maiden mixed doubles medal at the showpiece.

Sindhu, the 30-year-old from Hyderabad had won her maiden medal in Guangzhou in 2013. She added another bronze in Copenhagen a year later to her tally, finished runner-up in Glasgow (2017) and Nanjing (2018), before scripting history with gold at Basel in 2019.

Sindhu, the only Indian to win Olympic medals in consecutive Games — silver at Rio 2016 and bronze at Tokyo 2020 — has endured a difficult run since lifting the 2022 Commonwealth Games crown. The Singapore Open that year was her last notable title.

Injuries, a slide in rankings and frequent coaching changes have stifled her rhythm in the buildup to the Paris Olympics, where her dream of a third Olympic medal ended prematurely.

Training under Indonesian coach Muhammad Irwansyah, she has continued to search for consistency on the tour, but results have

remained elusive. agencies