PV Sindhu Falls To Kim Ga Eun In All-England Open 2025 First Round, Exits Early Again

March 13, 2025: Indian shuttler PV Sindhu was knocked out of the All-England Open 2025 badminton tournament in the first round of the women’s singles event on Wednesday. The 29-year-old, ranked 16th in the world, lost to the Republic of Korea’s Kim Ga Eun, who is ranked 21st globally, with a 21-19, 13-21, 13-21 scoreline. The match, which lasted 61 minutes, saw Sindhu unable to sustain her early form and ultimately fall short.

The match began well for Sindhu, who looked in strong form, especially during the first game. She took an 11-7 lead at the first break and was on the brink of closing out the game with a 20-12 advantage. Despite saving seven game points, Kim Ga Eun fought back to take the first game 21-19.

In the second game, Sindhu and Kim were neck-and-neck, tied at 12-12, but once again, it was Kim Ga Eun who finished strong. She dominated the latter part of the game, leveling the match at 1-1 after winning the second game 21-13.

The decider saw Kim Ga Eun build an early 7-1 lead. Sindhu showed signs of recovery, closing the gap to 9-7, but Kim continued to push hard after the break. She took control of the final stretch to seal the match and progress to the next round with a 21-13 victory in the third game.

This defeat marks Sindhu’s second consecutive first-round exit of the year and her fourth straight opening-round defeat at the prestigious Super 1000 event.

Meanwhile, there was some positive news for India as Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty fought off a minor setback in their match against Denmark’s Mads Vestergaard and Daniel Lundgaard. After trailing 12-7 in the second game, they made a comeback to win 21-17, 21-15, securing a place in the men’s doubles pre-quarterfinals.

In women’s doubles, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also advanced to the next round, defeating Chinese Taipei’s Sung Shuo-Yun and Yu Chien Hui 21-17, 21-13. However, Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra were eliminated after a heavy loss, going down 21-9, 21-4 to South Korea’s Baek Ha-Na and Lee So-Hee.

Paris 2024 Olympian Tanisha Crasto and her mixed doubles partner were also ousted after losing 21-17, 21-14 to Thailand’s Ruttanapak Oupthong and Jhenicha Sudjaipraparat.

Looking ahead, Lakshya Sen and Malvika Bansod, who won their opening singles matches on Tuesday, will compete in the second round on Thursday, hoping to continue India’s push in the tournament.