PV Sindhu Exits In Second Round Of China Masters After Hard-Fought Defeat

Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu's campaign at the China Masters Super 750 badminton tournament came to an end in the second round after she lost to Singapore's Yeo Jia Min in a hard-fought three game women's singles contest on Thursday. World No.19 Sindhu, who dispatched the higher-ranked Busanan Ongbamrungphan 21-17 21-19 in the opening round, fought valiantly before going down 16-21 21-17 21-23 to Min in a match that lasted one hour and nine minutes. It was curtains for other two surviving Indian women's singles players as well with both Anupama Upadhyaya and Malvika Bansod crashing out in the second round.

While Anupama lost 7-21 14-21 against Japan's Natsuki Nidaira, Malvika was thrashed 9-21 9-21 by eight-seeded Supanida Katethong of Thailand.

The women's doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand was no match for second seeded Chinese pair of Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning.

The world number 18 India duo, which is currently at eight spot in the BWF World Tour rankings, lost 16-11 11-21 against their Chinese opponents in a second round match lasting just 43 minutes.

Indian singles challenge now rests on the shoulders of Lakshya Sen who will be up against Denmark's Rasmus Gemke in a men's second round match later in the day.

Also in action will be defending champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who returned to action after a break following the Paris Olympics.

The Asian Games gold medallist Indian duo will meet the Danish pair of Rasmus Kjaer and Frederik Soggard in the pre-quarterfinals later on Thursday.

Sindhu vs Min ========= Thursday's hard-wrenching defeat was Sindhu's first loss against her Singaporean rival in six meetings.

It was a neck-and-neck affair between Sindhu and Min till the first six points but the Singaporean upped her game and capitalised on a few unforced errors from her opponent to take a five-point advantage (11-6) at the first break.

Sindhu, however, didn't give up and clawed her away back with some long rallies and fine court play to pocket four straight points and reduce the margin to 11-10. The close contest between the two shuttlers continued till 16 points before Min upped her game and won five consecutive points to take the first game.

In the second game, Sindhu came out attacking and raced to an early 8-5 lead which Min slowly reduced but the Indian kept her cool and used her experience to pocket four straight points from 17 to level the scores.

The decider was a treat to watch for the spectators as both the shuttlers were in no mood to give an inch to each other. At one point Sindhu had a 13-9 lead but a determined Min didn't give up as she displayed great attacking game and capitalised on a tiring Sindhu's errors to seal the match in her favour. PTI SSC SSC AH AH