Listless PV Sindhu knocked out of World Championships

This one's going to hurt. Perhaps more than any other loss of late. You could see the dejection on PV Sindhu's face as she reached the net to shake Nozomi Okuhara's hand, eager to rush off the court.

- Sandip Sikdar

For the first time in her career, the two-time Olympic medallist failed to reach the quarter-finals of the World Championships, a special event for Sindhu where she has medalled five times in seven previous outings. Despite such a stellar record, the 28-yearold was knocked out in Round 2, after receiving a first-round bye, to continue a season of disappointment.

More than the loss, what will pinch Sindhu is the way in which she capitulated, especially in the second game, to hand a 14-21, 14-21 victory to her Japanese rival in Copenhagen on Tuesday.

After comprehensively losing the first game, it appeared like Sindhu was fighting back when she went ahead 9-0, which on regular days is an almost insurmountable lead. Yet she could only win five of the next 26 points to show her old rival the gateway to Round 3.