Indonesia Masters: PV Sindhu crashes out in 2nd round, ends India's campaign in Jakarta

Indian contingent's campaign ended at the Indonesia Masters after PV Sindhu crashed out in the second round of the singles category on Thursday.

The fifth-seeded player surrendered her one-game before she went down 21-16, 16-21, 19-21 against Sayaka Takahashi.

Sindhu had a 4-2 head to head record against Sayaka prior to the match, which eventually latest for only an hour and six minutes and ended in the favour of the Japanese. This was World No. 6 Sindhu's second consecutive early exit of the season after she had suffered a first-round exit in Malaysia Masters last week.

Before the victory over Sindhu, Sayaka was coming off by knocking the other Indian out. She defeated the defending champion Saina Nehwal in the first round. It was Saina's second straight opening-round exit after her poor show in Malaysia.

These two losses have derailed Saina's chances of qualifying for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. Having participated in Beijing in 2008, London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Saina is evidently struggling to make it to her fourth straight Olympics.

As of now, only Sindhu, Sai Praneeth and men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have more or less qualified for the mega event. With April 26 being the cut-off date for Tokyo 2020 qualification for the badminton players, Saina is off to a poor start at the first two tournaments of the year.

According to the latest rankings, Sindhu is No. 6 in the world and No. 6 in Olympic rankings. Sai is No. 11 in the world ranking and No.9 in Olympic rankings. Even though Saina ranks No. 11 in the BWF rankings, it is not enough as she is outside the top 15 in the Olympic rankings at No. 24.

There are around 10 tournaments before the cut-off date but only six of those can help the shuttlers earn good points. By failing miserably in the first two competitions, Saina is currently in tremendous pressure. Her last season performances will give her no boost. Her previous title win came in last January at the Indonesia Masters. She went on to play 15 more tournaments in 2019 but failed to win in any of them.