PV Sindhu Paris Final Shows Depth In Indian Badminton
Sunday in Paris finished the way many of Sindhu's matches against one specific competitor have. PV Sindhu led the 1st game against top seed An Se-young in the French Open final, but then dropped the next 2, 21-16, 11-21, 12-21, 61 minutes, in the end. A victory would have extended India's wait from Aparna Popat in 1998. The scoreboard reads differently, but the real action was earlier. Numbers will be discussed, but her moment this week was something else. People will probably remember the score, but that's not the best part.
Losing Well to the Best Player in the World
An arrived at the final with a 65-1 record for the year, and she has now beaten Sindhu in all 11 of their meetings. Stepping aside for a game is a rare sight with the shuttler; this was only the second occasion out of 11 matches that she was able to do it. After an exhausting 73-minute semifinals win against Japan's Hina Akechi, 21-10, 20-22, 21-16, Sindhu said that playing against the top players means doing your best with every point and no part of it. The result also closes a season that looks better than one final suggests. It was the Japan Open in July that was her first BWF title since December 2024 and the first Super 750 win. 2025 saw her reach the finals of the Malaysia Open in January and the Australian Open in June – her fourth back-to-back final (2 Super 750s, 1 Super 1000 and 1 Super 1000), which added up to a great year. Paris, her second Super 750 final of the year, was also a 10th for a player by an Indian in a BWF World Tour tournament outside India in 2025 – a record – nine made the final in 2023.
The Women Behind Her in the Draw
Sindhu now leads India at the Hylo Open 2026 in Germany, seeded second. Seven other women’s singles players join her, including Ashmita Chaliha, Devika Sihag, Isharani Baruah, Aakarshi Kashyap, Anmol Kharb, Malvika Bansod and Unnati Hooda. Chaliha, who won the Korea Masters earlier this year, produced the biggest win of her career in Paris by beating three-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi in the second round, while Sihag drew a top seed in her opening match. A draw with so many prominent Indian Female Role Models marks the quieter record of this season. The story of Indian women’s badminton is no longer about one name carrying a country on her shoulders, which is a heavy load for anyone, and a shared one is far easier to carry. A player can lose a final and still be the reason a girl watching at home decides to pick up a racket.
