Indian badminton player PV Sindhu crashed out of the Indonesia Open 2023 women’s singles event after losing her second round match to world No. 3 Tai Tzu Ying in Jakarta on Thursday.
Kidambi Srikanth, meanwhile, made the men’s singles quarter-finals after ousting compatriot Lakshya Sen in his second round match.
PV Sindhu, 14th in the BWF world rankings, lost 21-18, 21-16 to defending Indonesia Open champion Tai Tzu Ying at the Istora Senayan Sports Arena. It was Sindhu’s 19th defeat against the Chinese Taipei player in 24 head-to-head meetings.
Tai Tzu Ying raced off the blocks to take a 17-10 lead in the opening game but PV Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist, rallied to reduce the deficit to 19-17. The Indian shuttler, however, couldn’t sustain the pressure and eventually lost the opening game.
The second game was a close affair towards the start with the lead changing hands multiple times. But just when Sindhu seemed to be in the driver’s seat with a 16-14 lead, Tai rallied to win seven consecutive points and wrapped the match up in 39 minutes.
Earlier in the day, Kidambi Srikanth defeated compatriot Lakshya Sen 21-17, 22-20 to set up a quarter-final clash against reigning All England champion Li Shi Feng of the People’s Republic of China. Li Shi Feng defeated Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew, a former world champion, in his round of 16 clash.
Up against Lakshya Sen, the reigning Commonwealth Games champion, Kidambi Srikanth, 22nd in the latest badminton rankings, engaged in a close fight in the opening game. With the scores tied at 17-17, however, Srikanth stepped up to pocket the final four points and took the lead.
The second game saw Kidambi Srikanth a 20-14 lead but Lakshya Sen saved an astonishing six match points to draw level at 20-all. Srikanth, though, once again stepped up under pressure to close out the match in 45 minutes.
With the win, Kidambi Srikanth extended his head-to-head record against his junior compatriot to 3-0.
India’s HS Prannoy, ranked 9th in the BWF world rankings, also progressed to the quarter-finals with a 21-18, 21-16 win over world No. 16 NG Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong. HS Prannoy will next play world No. 4 Kodai Naraoka of Japan next.
India’s world No. 34 Priyanshu Rajawat, however, went down fighting against world No. 2 and Tokyo 2022 Olympics bronze medalist Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia. The Indian shuttler lost 22-20, 15-21, 15-21.
The Indian men’s doubles team of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy also made the final eight after defeating China’s He Jing Ting and Zhou Hao Dong 21-17, 21-15.
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