NewzVille Desk
India’s double olympics medalist, P V Sindhu made a major final beating Akane Yamaguchi of Japan 21-17 21-17 in the BWF DAIHATSU Japan Open 2026.
It has been a while since VSindhu made a major final. Her last World Tour final at a Super 500 tournament was the Malaysia Masters in May 2024.
And while there were Super 300 titles and the Commonwealth Games gold in 2022, her last major title had come seven years ago, at the BWF World Championships 2019.
The relief and joy at breaking this pattern was written all over her face as she revelled in the feeling of winning the Japan Open; the Super 750 triumph marking a high point in her career, and putting her back in the conversation as a contender at the upcoming BWF World Championships.
Facing home icon Yamaguchi, the most successful winner here with four titles, Sindhu showed the willingness to trade with Yamaguchi on her own terms when needed.
A 44-shot rally early in the second game was illustrative – the Indian chasing everything and wearing the Japanese down.
There were some twists and turns the rest of the way, but Yamaguchi, having played two draining matches before the final, could not end up the reserves as she typically does, and Sindhu was able to nail the match in straight games.
“Very very happy, just out of words,” said Sindhu.
“It was 19 months since I won (Syed Modi International, Super 300), and this was very important for me, because coming to the final is one thing, but to win and stand on the podium getting that gold is a different thing altogether.
“You never know what will happen. Even though I was leading, I was making mistakes. So it was important for me to stay calm and focus on each point.
“It was important for me to stay positive all the time. With the top players you can’t take it easy. It was important to maintain the same aggressiveness. I couldn’t control my emotions at the end. There were some long rallies, and I won some of those big rallies, and that was important.”
“I am so upset,” said Yamaguchi. “I have no injury, but I was just little bit tired because I had long matches earlier, so I could not play fast. I tried to make points from my defense, but her attack was very good. My play wasn’t good enough today. Sindhu played very well, she was very aggressive, and her smash was strong.”
The return to title hunt came with her first victory over Chen Yu Fei of China in six matches. Chen retired with a pulled muscle in her right thigh, with the Indian leading 21-19 15-10, but the retirement took nothing away from Pusarla, who looked close to her best all match and had Chen fighting a rearguard battle throughout.
