Malaysia Masters 2024: PV Sindhu Loses Title Clash to Resolute Wang Zhi Yi

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India's PV Sindhu dropped a game and an 8-point lead in the decider to lose the Malaysia Masters 2024 final to China's Wang Zhi Yi at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Sunday (May 26).

The two-time Olympic medallist and fifth-seeded Indian shuttler suffered a 21-16, 5-21, 16-21 loss against the second seeded Chinese shuttler in the women's singles title clash that lasted an hour and 19 minutes on court 1.

Sindhu, who won the first game 21-16, was listless in the second game as she went down 5-21 to the Chinese shuttler, who forced the decider. In the third game, Sindhu had raced to a 11-3 lead at the mid-interval break.

However, Wang showed tremendous fight to get back into the contest after the break, cutting down the deficit before levelling the score at 13-13 and took control of the match from there to pull off one the greatest comeback wins by clinching the game and the championship 21-16.

This was Sindhu's first final appearance in 2024 and her fourth clash against Wang in ranking tournaments. With the latest result, the scores are even at 2-2 in the head to head meetings between Sindhu and Wang.

Earlier on Saturday (May 25), the Paris Olympics-bound Sindhu fought back from a game down to beat Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the semi-finals. She rallied her way to prevail 13-21 21-16 21-12 against world number 20 Busanan.

A silver and bronze medallist in the last two editions of the Olympics, Sindhu seemed to have found her mojo back as she dished out some attacking badminton this week after looking out of sorts since making a comeback from a knee injury early this season.

It has been a while since Sindhu has defeated the big guns such as Carolina Marin, Tai Tzu Ying, Chen Yu Fei and Akane Yamaguchi - whom she is expected come across during the Paris Olympics.

The 28-year-old will next be in action at the Singapore Open, which is scheduled to be held from May 28 to June 2. Sindhu has been drawn in the same half as Marin and Yamaguchi.