PV Sindhu Bows Out Early From China Open; Ayush Shetty, Lakshya Sen Too Lose
PV Sindhu squandered an early advantage to bow out of the China Open with a gruelling three-game loss to local favourite and world No. 4 Chen Yufei in the second round.
Indian badminton ace PV Sindhu squandered an early advantage to bow out of the China Open with a gruelling three-game loss to local favourite and world No. 4 Chen Yufei in the second round on Thursday. Ayush Shetty and Lakshya Sen, too, exited the tournament after losing their respective men's singles second-round matches. Lakshya lost in straight games to Canada's Victor Lai 19-21, 11-21 while Ayush suffered a narrow three-game defeat to Ireland's Nhat Nguyen (21-15, 13-21, 20-22) after letting slip a 19-15 advantage in the decider. Sindhu lost 21-16, 20-22, 18-21 in an energy-sapping contest that lasted nearly one and a half hours. The 30-year-old from Hyderabad had entered the tournament on a high after winning the Japan Open last week, ending a lengthy title drought.
After her match, Sindhu vented her frustration over getting inadequate time to recover between matches, taking to social media to criticise the scheduling.
That the match was going to be a closely fought affair was evident from the opening game itself, in which Sindhu rallied from 7-13 to level the score at 16-16.
The Indian then reeled off five consecutive points to seize the early advantage.
However, it was Chen's turn to stage a comeback in the second game as Sindhu squandered four game points.
Chen, the Tokyo Olympics gold medallist, took the second game 22-20 after clawing her way back from 16-20. The deciding game was also evenly contested for the most part before Chen pulled away from 17-17 to seal the victory.
Sindhu had just 16 hours to prepare for her second-round match against Chen, while the Chinese star enjoyed more than a day's rest before the contest, giving her significantly more time to recover.
"About 16 hours for me between matches. 24 hours for my dear friend Chen tomorrow after having a full day off before facing me today," wrote the double Olympic medallist on 'X'.
The fourth-seeded Chen will next face seventh seed Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand in the quarterfinals on Friday, giving the Chinese one full day's rest before the clash.
Sindhu highlighted this fact, saying: "Lovely to see recovery being given the importance it deserves. Funny how schedules have a way of taking care of recovery. I only wish they took care of everyone the same way."
PV Sindhu