S'pore shuttler Yeo Jia Min defeats former world champion PV Sindhu, progresses to quarter-finals

Singaporean shuttler Yeo Jia Min, 25, achieved a noteworthy feat on Nov. 21 when she defeated two-time Olympic medallist Pusarla Venkata Sindhu, 29, in the women's singles at the China Masters 2024 badminton tournament in Shenzhen.

This is Yeo's first win against Sindhu in six meetings ever since their first encounter in 2019, according to the Olympics website.

A close contest

It was a nail-biting match between Yeo and the Indian badminton player, with the scoreline standing at 21-16, 17-21, and 23-21 in a 69-minute match.

Both players were levelled at 15-15 before Yeo managed to secure the first game.

Sindhu, who won silver and bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics and 2020 Tokyo Olympics respectively, appeared to have found her rhythm in the second game, evening the score at 16-16 before going on to win.

Sindhu then took the lead in the final match, but a few judgement errors led to Yeo catching up.

Yeo slowly began pulling ahead, with Sindhu attempting to keep up. Yeo was at match point several times in the third game, and Sindhu saved four of them.

Then, with a smash that had Sindhu returning the shuttle to the net, Yeo clinched her victory against the former world champion.

Yeo will be facing Thailand’s 2023 SEA Games gold medalist Supanida Katethong in the quarter-finals on Nov. 22.

Meanwhile Singapore’s top men’s singles player Loh Kean Yew was unfortunately unable to make it past the opening round on Nov. 19, where the 27-year-old was defeated by Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie.

Related article

Top image via @yeo_jiaminn/Instagram