Badminton
All England Open: PV Sindhu or Saina Nehwal? Who has performed better in the tournament?
If one talks about the performance of Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu at the All England Open, Nehwal clearly has the wood on Sindhu.
Though India has enjoyed some major success at the top-level in badminton, the same cannot be really said about their performances at the All England Badminton Open. Over the years, only two Indians have managed to win this prestigious tournament for the country – Prakash Padukone in 1980 and Pullela Gopichand in 2001.
Despite putting up terrific performances in the tournament, the All England title has somehow evaded the Indians. Only three Indians have managed to reach the semifinals of the All England Open more than once – Prakash Padukone did it 5 times, Saina Nehwal thrice and with her foray into the semifinal of the tournament in 2021 PV Sindhu featured in an All England semifinal for the second time in her career.
With two active players, Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu, in the list, to have played multiple All England Open semifinals, we do the next best thing – A Comparison between the two in the tournament.
In the 2021 edition, while Saina Nehwal exited in the opening round, Sindhu reached the semifinal where she conceded a defeat against Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong
The following table represents both Nehwal and Sindhu's performance at the All England Open over the years:
| Years | Saina Nehwal | PV Sindhu |
| 2020 | First Round | Quarterfinals |
| 2019 | Quarters | First Round |
| 2018 | First Round | Semis |
| 2017 | Quarters | Quarters |
| 2016 | Quarters | First Round |
| 2015 | Final | DNP |
| 2014 | Quarters | First Round |
| 2013 | Semis | Second Round |
| 2012 | Quarters | First Round |
| 2011 | Quarters | - |
| 2010 | Semis | - |
| 2009 | First Round | - |
| 2008 | First Round | - |
| 2007 | Second Round | - |
| Total wins | 23 off 38 matches | 8 off 17 matches |
Saina Nehwal
The 31-year-old Saina Nehwal has been a constant feature at the All England Badminton Open since she made her debut at the tournament in the year 2007. Nehwal made her debut at the tournament as a 17 year old and crashed out of the tournament in the second round.
She has since participated in 13 more editions of the tournament and has featured in six quarterfinals, two semifinals and had reached the final once, in the year 2015. This might seem to be pretty impressive at first, but the fact that she has a total of four first-round exits in 14 editions somewhere takes off the sheen.
All in all, Nehwal has played a total of 37 matches at the All England Open with a total of 23 wins i.e. she has won a total of 62.16% of her matches in this particular tournament.
On the other hand, she has reached the quarterfinals 42.85% of the time, semifinals 14.28% of time, final 7.14% of the time. Besides, she has crashed out of the tournament in the tournament 28.57% of the time.
PV Sindhu
Much like Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu too made her All England Open debut as a 17-year-old in the year 2012. But, unlike Nehwal who reached the second round on her debut, Sindhu bowed out of the tournament in the very first round itself.
Since then she has participated in seven more editions of the tournament, with the only exception being the year 2015 when she did not feature in the tournament due to a stress fracture.
Overall, Sindhu has played a total of 17 matches at the All England Open and has won 8 of those matches i.e. she has a winning record of less than 50% in this tournament.
On the other side, she has reached the quarterfinals 25% of the time, semifinals 12.5% of the time and has never reached the final. Besides, she bowed out of the tournament in the very first round 50% of the time.
Conclusion
If one talks about the performance of Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu at the All England Open (excluding the year 2021), Nehwal clearly has the wood on Sindhu.
