Badminton Asia Championships 2024: Sindhu reaches round of 16 with hard-fought win

Two-time Olympic medallist P. V. Sindhu came from behind to beat Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in a hard-fought first-round match at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China on Wednesday.

Sindhu defeated World No. 33 Goh 18-21, 14-21, 19-21, finishing the 64-minute fixture after converting her fifth match point. She became the first Indian to reach the round of 16 at the ongoing edition of the continental event after quite a few of her compatriots, including Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen, crashed out.

Sindhu, who won a bronze medal in the 2022 edition, faces sixth-seeded Chinese Han Yue for a place in the quarterfinals.

Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, who needed to at least reach the women’s doubles final to have a shot at qualifying for the Olympics, lost 2-21, 11-21 to fourth-seeded Chinese duo of Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning.

Later in the day, H.S. Prannoy, the only Indian player left in men’s singles, takes on China’s Lu Guang Zu in the first round.