Devika Sihag enters maiden Super 300 final at Thailand Masters
Young Indian shuttler Devika Sihag stormed into her maiden BWF Super 300 final with a straight-game win over world number 35 Huang Yu-Hsun at the $250,000 Thailand Masters on Saturday. The 20-year-old unseeded Indian, who claimed her maiden BWF International Challenge title at the Malaysia International last year, registered a 22-20, 21-13 win over the fifth-seeded Huang in the women’s singles semifinal.
“It is my first super 300 final, so I am excited and happy. But at the same time, I want to remain focussed so that I can give my best in tomorrow’s match as it is the final. So I just want to give my all and hope I will win the match,” Devika said.
Seemingly down and out at 15-20 in the opening game, Devika rose like a phoenix, saving five game points to seal the opener and continued the momentum in the second to prevail over Huang, who drowned in a cesspool of unforced errors. “After saving five game points in the opening game, I was just thinking, I will play positively and it worked for me. I was pushing her into rallies, she was only making mistakes and it helped me and gave me confidence for the rest of the match,” she said.
The world No. 63, who trains under coach Umendra Rana at the Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence (PDCSE) in Bangalore, will face Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in the summit clash. “She has been training with us since she was 12 years old. Last year, she won the National title. She is very tall and lean, and has been working hard on building her leg strength,” said former India coach Vimal Kumar, Director and Chief Coach of the badminton operations at PDCSE.
“While growing up, she struggled with knee issues, particularly related to the patella, which repeatedly hampered her progress. She is extremely talented. We selected her in 2017 from a talent camp organised at our Academy. Over the last four months, she has also been training alongside Sindhu under the Indonesian coach.
“She is a very soft-spoken girl and not overly aggressive in nature, unlike many of the other young players from Haryana. I hope she performs well tomorrow and goes on to win the title. The two shuttlers fought early, moving to 7-7 at one stage. Huang then surged ahead, slowly building a substantial lead.
The Indian was guilty of handing her opponent opportunities to quickly finish the points as Huang led 18-14. Aided by a service error from Devika and a straight smash, Huang grabbed five game points. The Taiwanese then went wide, while Devika prevailed in a net duel. Huang next found the net as it became 18-20. An alert Devika then stood near the net to dispatch one more and, when Huang smashed wide, the Indian brought it level at 20-20.
She earned her sixth point on the trot to hold a game point herself and sealed the game after the Taiwanese once again smashed wide. The second game started on an even note as both committed too many unforced errors, but Devika managed to curb her mistakes to open up an 8-5 lead. For Huang, nothing seemed to go her way as she drowned in her own pool of errors, allowing Devika to take an 11-5 lead at the break.
Devika tried to engage her opponent in long rallies, moving to 14-8. She used her overhead drops, forehand flat drives and better net play to trouble her opponent. Soon she was 17-9 up. Two nervy shots saw her miss the lines on both flanks as it became 17-11. Huang again smashed into the net to see Devika reach 19-12. The Indian then sent one wide. An on-the-line return on the backline gave seven match points to the Indian and she sealed it with a smash.
Devika’s rise on the circuit has been steady and consistent. The youngster from Haryana claimed her maiden international title at the Malaysia International in August 2025 and later contributed to India’s mixed team bronze at the 2025 World University Games. Her upward trajectory continued last season as she finished runner-up at the Indonesia Masters Super 100 and made four title clashes in 2024, lifting trophies at the Swedish Open and Portugal International, while settling for second place at the Estonian International and Dutch International.
