Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu’s quest for a sixth World Championships medal ended on Friday after losing a hard-fought three-game quarter-final thriller to Indonesia’s Putri Kusuma Wardani.

Sindhu, the 2019 champion and five-time medallist at the event, was eyeing a record sixth podium finish but faltered at the finishing line, losing 14-21, 21-13, 16-21 to the ninth-seeded Wardani in a pulsating 64-minute contest.

Earlier in the day, the Indian mixed doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto bowed out after losing 15-21, 13-21 to world No. 4 Malaysians Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei, ending India’s hopes of a maiden mixed doubles medal at the showpiece.

The 30-year-old Sindhu had won her maiden medal in Guangzhou in 2013. She added another bronze in Copenhagen a year later to her tally, finished runner-up in Glasgow (2017) and Nanjing (2018), before scripting history with gold at Basel in 2019.

Sindhu, the only Indian to win Olympic medals in consecutive Games — silver at Rio 2016 and bronze at Tokyo 2020 — has endured a difficult run since lifting the 2022 Commonwealth Games crown. The Singapore Open that year was her last notable title.

Injuries, a slide in rankings and frequent coaching changes had stifled her rhythm in the build-up to the Paris Olympics, where her dream of a third Olympic medal ended prematurely.

Training under Indonesian coach Muhammad Irwansyah, she has continued to search for consistency on the tour, but results have remained elusive.

Against Wardani, with whom she shared a 2-2 career record before the match, Sindhu struggled to close out the big points. The Indonesian, 23, showed composure in crunch moments to assure herself of a maiden Worlds medal.

Wardani was the sharper player in the opening game, using angles and smashes to put Sindhu under pressure. After the score was tied at 3-3, a flurry of errors from the Indian allowed the Indonesian to seize control, moving into the mid-game break 11-7.

Wardani extended her dominance to 18-9, as Sindhu repeatedly went wide and long, before pocketing the opener 21-14 when the Indian pushed one out with a broken string.

Sindhu roared back in the second game, tightening her net play and finding her range on the smashes. From 4-2 up, she stormed to a 16-6 lead as Wardani’s game unravelled. Sindhu closed the game 21-13.

In the decider, Sindhu fell 0-3 behind before unleashing relentless, aggressive returns to finally crack Wardani’s defence. The Indonesian went long, making it 3-3.

Wardani managed to defend stubbornly, but at 5-4 she wilted under Sindhu’s pressure. A gripping 59-shot rally followed — Wardani blunting everything thrown at her until she finally netted to hand the point to Sindhu.

Sindhu then produced a deceptive push over Wardani’s head, only for the 23-year-old to hit back with a smash and level at 7-7.

Momentum swung back and forth.

Sindhu kept fighting. But the Indonesian, from 17-16, struck a precise smash deep to Sindhu’s forehand, followed by a costly misjudgement from the Indian at the backline, which established a three-point cushion for Wardani.

When Sindhu netted, Wardani brought up four match points. Sindhu went wide again to draw curtains on the match.

With inputs from PTI