China Masters 2024 badminton: PV Sindhu knocked out; Satwik-Chirag and Lakshya Sen march on
PV Sindhu was leading 13-9 in the decider but could not hold her lead against Singapore’s Yeo Jia Min.
Badminton
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu’s run at the China Masters 2024 badminton tournament ended in the round of 16 after she lost to Singapore’s Yeo Jia Min in a hard-fought women’s singles contest in Shenzhen on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Sindhu’s fellow Paris 2024 Olympians Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty and Lakshya Sen progressed to the quarter-finals in their respective events.
PV Sindhu, 19th in the badminton rankings, went down to her world No. 13 opponent with a 21-16, 17-21, 23-21 scoreline at the BWF Super 750 event.
The match was a seesaw affair from start to finish. In the opening game, the scores were level at 15-15 before Yeo found an extra gear to pull away with the lead. Sindhu fought back in the second and edged ahead after the game was tied at 16-16.
The Indian badminton player appeared in control of the decider with a 13-9 advantage but a few judgement errors allowed Yeo back into the contest. Despite Sindhu saving four match points, Yeo ultimately sealed the contest in one hour and nine minutes.
This was Sindhu’s first loss against Yeo Jia Min in six meetings. Sindhu is still searching for her first title on the BWF World Tour since her victory at the Singapore Open in July 2022. She last reached the final on the BWF Tour at the Malaysia Masters BWF Super 500 tournament in May this year.
World No. 9 men’s doubles pair of Satwik-Chirag, competing in their first BWF tournament since the Paris 2024 Olympics, continued their campaign following a 21-19, 21-15 win over 15th-ranked Rasmus Kjaer and Frederik Sogaard of Denmark.
Satwik and Chirag, the reigning Asian Games champions, will face Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark in their quarter-final match.
Paris 2024 semi-finalist Lakshya Sen, ranked 17th in the men’s singles, beat Denmark’s world No. 30 Rasmus Gemke with a 21-16, 21-18 scoreline.
The Commonwealth Games gold medallist will face the winner of the match between Takuma Obayashi and third seed Anders Antonsen of Denmark next.
Meanwhile, it was the end of the road for India’s mixed doubles pair of B Sumeeth Reddy-N Sikki Reddy, women’s singles players Anupama Upadhyaya, Malvika Bansod and women’s doubles duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand.
B Sumeeth Reddy-N Sikki Reddy handed a walkover to top seeds Feng Yan Zhe-Huang Dong Ping of the People’s Republic of China.
Anupama Upadhyaya lost to Natsuki Nidaira of Japan 21-7, 21-14 while Malvika Bansod suffered a 21-9, 21-9 defeat to eighth-seeded Thai shuttler Supanida Katethong.
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand went down 21-16, 21-11 to the second-seeded Chinese pair of Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning.