Leading 19-17 in the first game, Wang Zhi Yi lifted the shuttle to the back court. PV Sindhu waited for a second, trying to judge its trajectory.
The next moment, the Indian leapt in the air – both legs off the court – before she landed a powerful winner. Wang scurried to return the shuttle, but it hit the court before she could react.
It was vintage Sindhu in action.
The trademark jump smash, she picked up from her spiker father, was for long one of the strongest weapons in her arsenal since a teenaged Sindhu broke through the ranks.
Over the years it went missing from her range of shots as she looked to build on endurance, essentially trading off the taxing shot to be able to conserve energy in longer matches. And this was also a time when Sindhu’s performance began dipping.
In the recent past – think prior to the 2024 Paris Olympics – Sindhu began nursing it back to her repertoire.
In the 2025 BWF World Championships Round of 16 clash against Wang, the double Olympic medallist employed the shot to good effect.
That jump smash at 17-19 unlocked something within as Sindhu won three more consecutive points to win the first game 21-19.
The game point, in particular, was eye-catching as she intercepted Wang’s attempted lift from mid-court to smash it away within the blink of an eye to go 1-0 up.
The mantra for Sindhu was simple – attack, attack, and attack – while also landing the shots as straight as possible. She backed her raw power and rarely did she try to push the shuttle to the corners, greatly minimising the risk of hitting wide.
What also worked in Sindhu’s favour in the 48-minute match was the fast paced start she was able to produce. She led 11-6 at the mid-game interval in both games.
This meant that even when Wang forced her into longer rallies post the interval and held her in check more often than not, Sindhu could afford to bide her time.
For example, even when the two dueled it out in a 57-shot rally and Sindhu misjudged the trajectory at the backline, she still had a 12-11 lead in the second game.
The Indian, a 2019 world champion was visibly exhausted after that rally, but two quick points – a wide shot from Wang and yet another jump cross-court smash – put her back on track.
She was equally lethal at the net when drawn forward and it was a fittingly backhand touch from the net which helped her close the match 21-19, 21-15 against the World No. 2, when hardly anyone expected her to.
Since her World Championships debut as a 17-year-old in 2013, Sindhu has been unbeaten against Chinese shuttlers in the event. Some of the Chinese legends like Li Xuerui have struggled to go past Sindhu when at their peak.
More than a decade later, she further extended her winning streak with an eighth World Championships win over the Chinese, defeating one of the best women’s singles shuttlers of the current era.
A resurgent Sindhu, aged 30, has just sent a message that is loud and clear to the badminton world: she is still hungry to battle it out.
