PV Sindhu breaks silence after quarter-final exit at Asian Games 2026
PV Sindhu lost to Chen Yufei in three sets in the quarter-finals.
Three points—that’s the margin PV Sindhu will keep thinking about whenever she recalls her loss to China’s Chen Yufei in the quarter-finals at the Asian Games 2026 on Sunday, September 27. The match ended 21-11, 18-21, 10-21, ending her run at the Games in Aichi-Nagoya.
Hours later, she turned to X to explain what she felt. “My Asian Games campaign is over, and I’m hurting,” she wrote.
To be honest, the scoreline doesn’t reflect what the match was actually like. Sindhu made a strong start, unleashing sharp, steep smashes to dominate the opening game and dictate the early proceedings.
But then, what changed wasn’t her execution; it was Chen’s patience. Rally after rally stretched longer, and fatigue did the rest.
“Long, demanding rallies at the most critical moments turned the match. I had my chance. Letting it slip hurts,” Sindhu said.
A brutal schedule behind the result
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A big reason behind this loss was exhaustion. Sindhu had an extremely tiring schedule the day before the quarterfinal. Her match started late on Saturday and was shifted to another court. Due to this interruption, her next match dragged on until around 1 AM.
She reached her hotel only by 1:30 AM, had dinner, did her recovery exercises, and finally went to sleep close to 3 AM. She then woke up again around 8:30 AM to get ready for her quarter-final match. In her post, she summed it up: “Three matches in 18 hours… It took a toll.”
Sindhu was not the only player who was upset about this. Another Indian player, Unnati Hooda, also lost her quarter-final on Sunday. She said the schedule “could have been managed better.”
Players from other countries, like Japan’s Kodai Naraoka and Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie, also complained about the same tiring schedule.
Staying positive despite the pain
Even though she was hurting, Sindhu chose to look at the bright side in her post. She said that feeling this much pain actually shows how much she still loves the sport.
“I’m hurting, but that’s okay. I’m glad it still means enough to hurt this much. I still want this,” she wrote. She also shared that she and her coaching team are already working on fixing the mistakes that led to this loss, saying, “We will fix it.”
She also looked back at her long career and said, “One painful result cannot define a journey that means so much.” She ended her message by thanking her fans for supporting her and said, “I’ll go again,”.
India failed to win any individual badminton medal in Aichi-Nagoya. India’s only badminton medal at these Games was a bronze in the men’s team event.
Why did PV Sindhu criticise the Asian Games 2026 badminton schedule?
She played three singles matches in about 24 hours, with her third-round match ending around 1 AM and her quarterfinal starting around 1:30 PM.
Did India win an individual badminton medal at the Asian Games 2026?
No. Sindhu lost to Chen Yufei 21-11, 18-21, 10-21, and Unnati Hooda lost to Akane Yamaguchi 16-21, 21-14, 17-21. India’s only badminton medal was the men’s team bronze.
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