Sindhu bags Macau Open GP gold title

After a not so impressive performance in the European Circuit, world championship bronze medallist P V Sindhu put in extra hours in training for over a month at the Gopichand Badminton Academy and the fruits of the efforts were immediately visible when the 18-year-old bagged her second GP gold title of the career at the Macau Open on Sunday.

Sindhu, seeded one in the tournament, struggled in the earlier stages but her tactics of playing percentage game under pressure helped her survive the early challenges and she sailed through the finals with a 21-15, 21-12 victory over seventh seed Michelle Li of Canada in just 37 minutes.

The world number 11, who overcame a stiff challenge from Chinese newcomer Qin Jinjing in the semifinal, kept the focus on playing aggressive with swift movements to force Li into making mistakes. She earned 33 points as against 14 from Li in the bargain and helped her clinch the title in style.

"I am extremely happy with my performance here as all the players were playing well," said Sindhu after winning her second second GP gold title after the Malaysian GP Gold crown earlier this year. 

Sindhu admitted that she was confident of bagging the crown after winning the semifinal encounter against Jinjing and never lost control of the summit clash against Li.

Though the quality of opposition in the tournament was not in the same league as in Malaysia but the title triumph would give the Indian a major confidence boost going into 2014.

Sindhu had been struggling for form since winning the World Cup bronze in August and coach Pullela Gopichand pulled her out of China Open Super Series Premier in November to work on her tactical game and get a month long period for proper training.

“I think we got a month to train and that helped us work on various aspects of her game, including playing with patience without slowing down the pace,” he added.

Coach Madhumita Bisht, who is accompanying the team in Macau, admitted that Sindhu was under pressure in the first couple of rounds as she was the top seed and was keen to improve on her performance. "But once she crossed the initial hurdles, she was playing fantastic badminton and showed no nerves in the final."

Sindhu’s road to title

First round: bt Soo Jin Kim (KOR) 15-21, 21-12, 21-19

Second round: bt Salakjit Ponsana (THA) 18-21, 21-8, 21-14

Quarterfinals: bt 5-Tsz Ka Chan (TPE) 21-17, 21-12

Semifinal: bt Qin Jinjing (CHN) 21-13, 18-21, 21-19

Final: bt 7-Michelle Li (CAN) 21-15, 21-12