Harpal Singh Bedi
New Delhi 11 April: India’s ace shutllers put ùp a flop show as the country’s campaign at the Badminton Asia Championships (BAC) came to an end in the second round after PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy lost their women’s and men’s singles, respectively, in China Thursday.
Playing at the Ningbo Olympic Sports Center in China, twice Olympic medalist Sindhu, now ranked 12th, went down to world no 7 local star Han Yue 18-21,21-13,17-21 in 69 minutes.
This was Sindhu’s first loss against the Chinese shuttler in six meetings.
The Indian started the match strongly and had a six-point advantage at the break in the first game. She was up 15-10 but Han Yue won six straight points to snatch the lead and then raced away to take the opening game.
Sindhu staged a good recovery and took the second game comfortably to force a decider.
Though the Indian began the third game well and led 8-4, the Chinese rallied back to end her challenge in the Round of 16.
Sindhu had beaten Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei, a former Youth Olympic Games champion, in the opening round on Wednesday.
World No. 9 Prannoy, meanwhile, lost to Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chun-Yi, ranked 19th,in straight gamesc 21-18, 21-11 also in the Round of 16 contest.
World championship bronze medalist Prannoy fought back after trailing by four points in the first game and levelled the scores at 15-all.
However, Lin Chun-Yi stepped up and took the first game before dominating the Indian in the second game.
Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto also exited of the women’s doubles competition.
India’s highest-ranked pair at world No. 20, lost to the world No. 3 Japanese pair of Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida 21-17, 21-12 in 49 minutes.
The Indian shuttlers will now prepare for the Thomas and Uber Cup, which will be held in Chengdu, China from April 28.