China Open: PV Sindhu exits, victory for Sai Praneeth
What's the story
It didn't go as planned for PV Sindhu in the ongoing China Open. The BWF World Championships women's singles winner bowed out of the China Open Super 1000 tournament after suffering a pre-quarterfinals defeat to Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong. Sindhu lost in a three-game duel. Meanwhile, Sai Praneeth won his match. Here are all the details.
SIndhu
Sindhu loses momentum to lose the tie
Sindhu fell short in a duel that lasted for more than 50 minutes. Sindhu managed to take the first game 21-12, however, she lost her touch to go down 13-21, 19-21 in the next two games. In fact, Sindhu led the third game at crucial junctures with the scores reading 12-7 and 19-15. Chochuwong managed to win six straight points to stun Sindhu.
The match
How did the match pan out?
Sindhu took the early momentum in the first game to lead 7-1. However, Pornpawee pulled back to reduce the deficit to 10-11 at the break. Sindhu managed to win eight points at a stretch to get the hold and win 21-12. The second game saw Pornpawee dominate the show throughout to seal the deal. In the third game, Sindhu's end product deserted her.
Doubles events
India lose in men's doubles and mixed doubles events
Meanwhile, the men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost their match against Japan's Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda on Thursday. They went down 19-21, 8-21 in the second-round match that lasted 33 minutes. Later on, mixed doubles pair of Satwik and Ashwini Ponanappa crashed out after losing against Yuki Kaneko and Misaki Matsutomo in a three-game duel.
Data
Sai Praneeth beats China's Guangzu Lu 21-19, 21-19
India's men's singles shuttler Sai Praneeth advanced to the third round of the China Open. The star player overcame China's Guangzu Lu 21-19, 21-19 in a thrilling contest.