PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy have been knocked out in the second round of the Japan Open following straight games losses to their respective opponents, while Kidambi Srikanth entered the quarters.
Sindhu was beaten by China's Gao Fangjie in the women's singles second round, her first preliminary exit in almost a year. The Indian went down fighting 18-21 19-21 in 55 minutes to the world no 14 Chinese. She had lost in the opening round at the Denmark Open last October.
Seeded third, Sindhu came into the event on the heels of a silver medal at the Asian Games and had won her first round match on Wednesday against world number 13 Sayaka Takahashi 21-17, 7-21, 21-13.
Sindhu, who has endured a hectic BWF season reaching five finals including three majors at CWG, World Championship and Asian Games, seemed mentally drained as errors crept into her game.
Gao relied on her deception to trouble Sindhu early on and took a 8-2 lead. But Sindhu slowly got her bearings, reaching the shuttles early and placing them perfectly. She put Gao on the wrong foot to narrow the lead to 8-10 but a weak return going to the net gave a three-point advantage to the Chinese.
Two unforced errors by Gao brought Sindhu back at 13-13. She grabbed a 17-14 lead but it soon vaporised with the Indian committing a few errors.
In the second game, Sindhu opened up a 5-0 lead before committing a service error. Gao soon dominated the rallies and clawed back at 7-7 after producing a winner on Sindhu's weak return.
Gao continued to dominate the rallies and soon grabbed five match points at 20-15. Sindhu saved four before hitting the net again to end her campaign.
Saina Nehwal is not playing the tournament and Sindhu’s loss effectively ends India’s campaign in the women’s singles event at the tournament.
Men’s Singles: Prannoy Out, Kidambi in Quarters
Prannoy went down 14-21, 17-21 against world no 10 Anthony Ginting of Indonesia.
Former world no 1 Srikanth, however, didn't break a sweat as he avenged his Asian Games loss to Hong Kong's Wong Wing Ki Vincent with a clinical 21-15 21-14 victory in the men’s singles event. The world no 8 is the now only Indian still alive in the tournament.
The seventh-seeded Indian, who won a silver at the Commonwealth Games, will face Korea's Lee Dong Keun next.
In doubles, the men's pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy lost 18-21 21-16 12-21 to China's He Jiting and Tan Qiang, while the mixed combination of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy lost 16-21 16-21 to the Malaysian pair of Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying in another match.
(With inputs from PTI)
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