P.V. Sindhu beats Nozomi Okuhara to clinch BWF World Tour trophy

Guangzhou, Dec 31: The year 2018 was a tough year for Indian badminton. With big tournaments lined up and players hardly getting any breaks to recover midway, it was largely a disappointing year with top shuttlers PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth and Saina Nehwal and the likes of HS Prannoy and B Sai Praneeth struggling to claim titles. However, world number three PV Sindhu finally broke the jinx when she defeated world number seven Nozomi Okuhara from Japan in the year-ending BWF World Tour Finals in Guangzhou and becoming the first player from India to win the title.

This win was a boost for Sindhu as she won a title after losing seven straight finals. She remained unbeaten throughout the tournament and overcame world number one Tai Tzu Ying from Chinese Taipei on way to reach final.