After overcoming Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the women’s singles semifinal to get to the final, P V Sindhu earned a chance to compete for the Malaysia Masters title on Saturday.
In Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, double Olympic medallist P V Sindhu advanced to the women’s singles finals by overcoming Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan in a thrilling match, earning her a chance at the Malaysia Masters title. In an intense semifinal that lasted 88 minutes, fifth seed Sindhu—who hasn’t won a championship in the previous two years—comebacking to defeat world number 20 Busanan 13-21 21-16 21-12 to get closer to the BWF World Tour Super 500 title at the Axiata Arena.
Sindhu placed second at the Madrid Spain Masters and won the 2022 Singapore Open the previous year.
She had defeated the Indian just once in her career—during the 2019 Hong Kong Open—and this was her eighteenth victory over Busanan.
In the summit match, world No. 15 Sindhu will go up against second seed and world No. 7 Wang Zhi Yi of China. Sindhu will be aiming for her third Olympic medal at the Paris Games in two months.
Though Sindhu has already defeated the Chinese twice in three meetings, the Chinese nevertheless defeated him at the Arctic Open last year.
Sindhu, who won silver and bronze in the previous two Olympic games, seems to have regained her form this week as she played some aggressive badminton. She had been struggling since recovering from a knee injury early in the season.
Sindhu is anticipated to face Akane Yamaguchi, Tai Tzu Ying, Chen Yu Fei, and Carolina Marin during the Paris Olympics, but it has been a while since she overcame these formidable opponents.
