Devika Sihag enters maiden BWF Super 300 final at Thailand Masters
Indian shuttler Devika Sihag entered her maiden BWF Super 300 final at the Thailand Masters with a 22-20, 21-13 win over Huang Yu-Hsun. The 20-year-old will face Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in the summit clash
Bangkok: Young Indian shuttler Devika Sihag stormed into her maiden BWF Super 300 final with a straight-game win over world No 35 Huang Yu-Hsun at the USD 250,000 Thailand Masters here 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 fifth seed Huang in the women’s singles semifinal.
Seemingly down and out at 15-20 in the opening game, Devika saved five game points to seal the opener and continued the momentum in the second to prevail over Huang, who committed a series of unforced errors.
The world No 63 will face Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in the summit clash.
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 giving her opponent chances to quickly finish 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 in a row to hold a game point herself and sealed the game after Huang once again smashed wide.
The second game started evenly 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 continued to make 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 Huang. 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 Devika and she sealed it with a smash.
Devika’s rise on the circuit has been steady and consistent. The youngster 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.
