PV Sindhu out of Singapore Open 2024 after loosing to old rival Carolina Marin in second round

Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu's Singapore Open 2024 campaign ended with a second-round loss to old rival Carolina Marin of Spain on Thursday.

World number 12 Sindhu suffered a tough fight 21-13, 11-21, 20-22 defeat in the second round of the BWF Super 750 badminton tournament.

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Marin has taken her record against Sindhu to 12-5

Earlier, the Indian player had won the right to face former Olympic champion Marin by defeating world number 21 Line Kjærsfeldt of Denmark 21-12, 22-20 in the Singapore Open first round. It also happened to be Sindhu’s sixth loss in a row at the hands of the Spaniard. Sindhu and Marin had faced each other in the final of the 2016 Rio Olympics in which Marin was the winner. With Thursday's win, Marin has taken her record against Sindhu to 12-5.

Out of their 17 meetings thus far on the BWF circuit, Marin beat Sindhu for the 12th time. The last time Sindhu got the better of Marin was back in the quarterfinal of the Malaysia Open back in 2018, when she won in straight games 22-20, 21-19. Since then, Sindhu lost to Marin in the World Championships, Indonesia Masters, Malaysia Open and Denmark Open before going down in the Singapore Open.

Sindhu dominated in the opening game before her opponent hit back strongly. In the final game, Sindhu was leading 15-10 and later 18-15 before Marin made a stupendous comeback.

After losing to Marin, Sindhu’s wait for a title also continued after her Singapore Open heist back in 2022. Having made her return to the court earlier this year in February, Sindhu also missed the Uber Cup and Thailand Open. In the Malaysia Masters, she stunned top seed Han Yue in the quarterfinal before losing to China’s Wang Zhiyi 21-16, 5-21, 16-21 in the final.

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Expectations will be high from Sindhu in Paris Games

Sindhu is now set to take part in the Paris Olympics 2024, which is scheduled to get underway on July 26. Expectations will be high from the 28-year-old, who is the only Indian woman to have won back-to-back medals at the quadrennial event. Sindhu will now be training at the Hermann-Neuberger Sportschule in Saarbrucken, Germany before heading to Paris.