Sindhu bows out to Yeon in 2nd round of Japan Open Super Series

Despite the absence of Chinese and other top shuttlers, PV Sindhu and the rest of the Indian squad failed to take advantage of the situation to bow out of the Japan Open Super Series, in Tokyo on Thursday, says a report in The Times Of India, adding that Sindhu, who last week made the semifinals of China Open with a morale-boosting win over Olympic champion Li Xuerui, failed to extend her superb form and went down to fourth seed Yeon Ju Bae of Korea 21-10, 12-21, 18-21 in a second-round clash.

“On the men's side, Ajay Jayaram failed to measure up to Wei Feng Chong of Malaysia, losing 16-21, 16-21. Though not much was expected from Jayaram, Sindhu was tipped to reach the final in Tokyo. However, the 22-year-old Bae proved too good for India's rising star. Sindhu got off to a brilliant start, taking the first game within 15 minutes. She began with a bang, raking up eight straight points before Bae opened the scoring. Playing six successful smashes and nine net winners, Sindhu zoomed ahead to 12-4 and gave no chance to Bae to come back into the game,” says the report.

According to a report in Hindustan Times, there was not much to differentiate between Sindhu and world No 11, Bae as the Indian matched her superior rival with her smashes. But the Korean proved to be a bit better at the nets as she had 18 net winners compared to Sindhu’s 17.

“The Indian dominated initially as she opened up a 8-0 lead and even though Bae tried to bridge the gap, Sindhu pocketed the first game without much ado. In the second game too, Sindhu was leading 3-0 initially but Bae reeled off five straight points to move ahead. Sindhu clawed back at 8-8 but the Korean broke off from 10-10 and held her fort to bounce back,” says the report, adding that in the decider, Bae didn’t allow the Indian to come close as she opened a narrow lead and gradually crafted her way ahead. Sindhu did try to challenge Bae and brought the margin down to 17-19 but the higher ranked Korean had the last laugh.