Swiss Open 2023: PV Sindhu's journey comes to a halt, star shuttler crashes out in round 2

India's ace shuttler PV Sindhu crashed out from the Swiss Open 2023. The Olympic silver medalist lost 15-21, 21-12, 18-21 to the Indonesian PK Wardani in the second round of the tournament. The loss has added another layer to the string of disappointments that Sindhu has been enduring lately.

Following a comfortable win in the 1st round over the Swiss J. Stadelmann, PV Sindhu could not carry forward the momentum as she lost to a defiant Warwani in the round of 16. This was PV Sindhu's 4th crushing loss in 2023. Before the Swiss Open, the 27-year-old lost in the first round of each of the Indian Open, Malaysian Open and All England open. Thus, it's been a continuous slump in form for the former World Champion. 

Along with Sindhu, HS Pannoy, Kidambi Srikanth and Mithun Manjunath also crashed out from the Swiss Open. Now, the only Indian contention that is left is in the men's doubles section where Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have defeated the Chinese Taipei pair of Fang-Chih Lee and Fang-Jen Lee 21-12, 17-21, 28-26 to advance into the quarterfinals of the tournament. 

PV Sindhu form slump

India's two-time Olympic champion PV Sindhu has been facing a tough time on the court lately. The star Indian shuttler hasn't seen a quarterfinal berth in a tournament since the Thailand Open, which took place in May 2022. Sindhu has since participated in 5 tournaments viz., The World Championships, Indian Open, Malaysian Open, All England Open, and Swiss Open, and crashed out in the initial rounds every time. Sindhu encountered a left foot stress fracture in 2022, which kept her out from the World Championships and all the remaining tournaments in the year, She, however, has recovered and come back to the scene but so far has struggled to get wins under her belt. Moreover, PV Sindhu recently parted ways with her South Korean coach Park Tae-sang, who accompanied her in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. While it hasn't been a good run lately, Sindhu is touted as a player who rises to the big occasions, hence fans are hopeful that the shuttler will soon return to winning ways.