Online Sports Desk
On Sunday, PV Sindhu created history. The veteran became the first Indian — and at 31, the oldest woman — to win a BWF Super 750 title, beating world No 3 Akane Yamaguchi 21-17, 21-17 in their 30th match in the final of the Japan Open.
Take a beat and read those numbers again. ‘First’ Indian. ’31’ years old. A ‘first’ Super 750 title. Her ’30th’ match against long-time rival Yamaguchi (who had won the two matches they played this year before this). Once you’ve absorbed those, here are a couple more – It’s Sindhu’s ‘first’ title since the Syed Modi International, a Super 300, back in 2024. And the big one: it’s her ‘first’ BWF Major win since the 2019 World Championship gold.
It’s a remarkable achievement to win a Super 750 title in your 30s in a field as strong as modern women’s singles, but to do it after months, even years, of disappointing results is something special. That she got there via two walkovers in an injury-hit field does not take away from what she has accomplished. After all, you can only fight the field in front of you, and Sindhu has done exactly that… fought. She has fought against odds and injuries and the tide of younger players, and when the opportunity arrived, Sindhu grabbed it with all the determination that’s made her one of Indian sport’s GOATs.
It takes a special athlete to rage against the dying light (as the poem goes), and Sindhu has been raging for months before finally getting the silverware to show for it in Tokyo, the city that saw her create history with a second Olympic medal in 2021. “I had tears in my eyes because it was very, very important for me to win,” she said after win. “I was really working hard on myself and kept believing that I could do it. Even though a lot of people were asking what was happening, I still believed in myself, my family, my coaches and my support staff.”
At 31, and after years of success as well as more recent adversity, Sindhu’s motivation to put in the hard yards and keep going on the gruelling badminton tour is commendable. She had not won a title of any kind in over a year and had got no big result going her way for even longer as her return from a foot surgery four years ago still affected her. The lack of success can be very demotivating for an athlete as decorated as Sindhu, yet she has always turned up every time, even if unseeded and with tougher draws, playing well but struggling near the finish line against players in their prime, players a decade younger. But… she has turned up, put in the work and kept fighting, kept getting faster, fitter, stronger.
The Japan Open win was a testament to this — as she outlasted Yamaguchi after trailing initially and storming to take the opening game 21-17 after tying it up at 17-17. Remember, this was a Sindhu who had lost to Yamaguchi in the semifinals of the Australian Open and the quarterfinals of the Thailand Open just about a month ago.
Today, though, Sindhu looked the fresher and the more attacking of the two as she took an early lead in the second and kept it, wrapping the final in straight games – another marker of her progress lately. Sure, there were those unforced errors that have always threatened to derail her in many big matches, and then some questionable judgement calls. But she rode that wave and settled herself to let her drive to win come to the fore. Even the championship point came via a good leave and a correct review, highlighting just how dialled in she was for the final.
Throughout this year, Sindhu was making incremental growth, even if the results didn’t always reflect that. She has now climbed back into the world’s Top 10, going from world rank 18 to 9 — no small feat in the competitive women’s singles landscape today. Her footwork, shot depth, and line judgement have been getting sharper compared to the last couple of years. It’s an odd thing to say about a five-time World Champion and two-time Olympic medallist, but such was the drop-off after that injury layoff in 2022 that she had to rebuild her game.
In 2026, she has been playing at a very good level, her movement swift and big weapons firing. Unlike last season, where Sindhu kept losing to different players, she has raised her game and played like a top-10 player through this season so far. But even then, she had been coming up short against the top players time and again.
Consider this: Her losses this year have largely been to World No.1 An Se Young (twice), World No. 2 Wang Zhi Yi, World No. 3 Yamaguchi (twice), and World No. 4 Chen Yu Fei, apart from an odd shock loss here and there.
One match that stands out is one to An Se Young — the undisputed best player in the world — in the quarterfinal of the Singapore Open. It was a match where the scoreline (21-17, 21-14) didn’t reflect the quality of the game Sindhu was playing at all. It was such a close contest that the South Korean had to deploy a usually held-in-reserve higher gear to win.
To come from such close losses and to keep going took immense mental strength. All of the top players were in the Japan Open draw, and while the intensity of the BWF tour took a toll on the players – Chen (semifinal vs Sindhu), Nozomi Okuhara (quarterfinal vs Sindhu) and An (against Okuhara) had to retire with injuries – Sindhu managed to stand out, beating the world No 5 Han Yue in the second round. Yes, the walkovers may have been a stroke of luck, but fortune favours the brave (and in this case the fit), doesn’t it?
The win also comes at an opportune time, with less than a month to go before she plays what is a crucial tournament for her – the BWF World Championship at home in New Delhi. The World Championships have always been a massive moment for her, since she won her first medal as a 17-year-old, and she has been looking to peak for it. This historic title is sure to add more wind to her wings as she goes for a record sixth medal, this time backed by a home crowd.
