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Badminton

PV Sindhu bounces back in style with Swiss success

Making up for dismal outings at the German and All England Open, PV Sindhu ensured that she doesn't return empty-handed from the European tour with a dominant Swiss Open win.

PV Sindhu
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PV Sindhu (Source: PV Sindhu/Twitter)

By

Sohinee Basu

Updated: 28 March 2022 1:43 PM GMT

PV Sindhu got back to her winning ways and refound her usual aggressive form as she all but strongarmed past Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan to lift the Swiss Open 2022 title in style, 21-16, 21-8.

Punctuated with loud screams and emphatic smashes, Sindhu extended her dominance over the World No. 11 from Thailand by recording her 16th win against Busanan, who has only been successful in having her way on one previous occasion in 2019.

With scratchy shows at the German Open and the All England Open, where Sindhu didn't make it past the pre-quarterfinal stages of both, the 26-year-old shuttler, seeded second at the Super 300 in Basel, saw off the left-handed Supanida Katethong and Canada's Michelle Li in order to reach the finals against Busanan.

Adding the second title of the season to her mantle after the Syed Modi Championships win in January, Sindhu picked up the Swiss Open gold with panache as she only conceded one game en route to winning the trophy, remaining pretty invincible throughout.

If the worry patches had started showing when Sindhu went down rather surprisingly early at both the German Open and the All England Open, losing to China's Zhang Yi Man and Sayaka Takahashi respectively, the double Olympic medallist found her stomping ground soon enough and reasserted her hunger for winning medals with the Swiss Open victory.

Not an empty-handed return

PV Sindhu at the podium after her Swiss Open victory (Source: Twitter)


For the first two weeks of the European leg of the BWF tour where India had sent in a packed contingent with a fine mix of seniors and juniors and those transitioning, it was mostly the name of Lakshya Sen that drowned out the rest.

The 20-year-old from Almora produced some brilliant heroics at the German Open and the All England Open, displaying fully the heights Indian badminton has grown to with silver medal finishes in both the BWF 300 and BWF 1000 event.

Sen, a World Championships bronze medallist was on a roll and defeated World No. 5 Anthony Ginting, Olympic champion and World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen and World No. 3 Anders Antonsen, All England Open 2021 champion, Lee Zii Jia, all in a matter of two weeks to make it a memorable outing for the youngster.

Sindhu, on the other hand, didn't get the start she desired from the first two tournaments, suffering quite harsh losses in matches that went down to the wire, lasting three sets. Raring to go, hungry for the win, Sindhu, almost on the verge of returning empty-handed from the European tour, ensured that it wasn't the case with a dominant show at the Swiss Open.

Sindhu's Swiss success

Curiously enough, PV Sindhu has tasted some notable successes at Basel, with her World Championship crown in 2019 being the major highlight where she defeated Japan's Nozomi Okuhara.

At the Swiss Open 2021 as well, Sindhu reached the finals of the event and had set up a date with 2016 Olympic champion, Carolina Marin in a mouth-watering clash which however didn't pan out in the favour of the Indian. However, Sindhu, into her second straight Swiss Open final made sure that she laid her hands on the gold with a solid victory over Busanan.

With a second title collected from the season so far, Sindhu remains the reliable figure in Indian badminton amidst a sea of fresh and welcome changes to bring back medals regularly.

Additionally, with bigger events lined up in the year - the Commonwealth Games, the Asian Games and the World Championships, Sindhu's tryst with consistency remains on track and the Swiss Open victory is only a reminder of Sindhu's lasting brilliance.

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