Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu crashed out in the opening round of the Korea Open Super 500 tournament on Wednesday.
The ace Indian shuttler, who dropped to No. 17 in the rankings this week, was not able to arrest her decline as she lost to Pai Yu-Po of Chinese Taipei 18-21 21-10 13-21 in the women’s singles in just under an hour.
She boasted of a 4-1 head-to-head record against Pai ahead of this match but her unforced errors led to her downfall.
In the first game, she was trailing 11-5 during the interval as she either found the net or hit it long over the line. Although she spurred a spirited comeback, Pai held her nerves to take advantage in the match.
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Battling back in the second game, Sindhu zoomed to a 9-1 lead to stamp her authority in the game. She continued to make the right moves and levelled things up by winning the second game.
In the decider, she took a quick 4-1 lead but once again unforced errors helped Pai to level 9-9 and even take a two-point lead going into the interval.
Sindhu's poor shot selection once again allowed Pai to extend the lead to 18-12, before eventually winning the game and match to progress to the round of 16.
Kidambi Srikanth ousted in the first round, HS Prannoy progresses
While Kidambi Srikanth was knocked out by Kento Momota of Japan, fifth seed Prannoy advanced to the second round after beating Belgium’s Julien Carraggi.
Srikanth squandered a match-point advantage in the second game and paid dearly for his mistake as Momota came back from behind to clinch the match 21-12, 22-24, 17-21. It was his 15th loss and 12th successive defeat to Momota.
However, Prannoy produced the goods to win 21-13, 21-17 in straight games and will now face Lee Cheuk Yiu next in the round of 16.
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