PV Sindhu’s wait for maiden All England final continues
Indian badminton player PV Sindhu lost to Thai player Pornpawee Chochuwong in the semi-finals of the All England Open.
India’s PV Sindhu crashed out of the All England Open Badminton Championships after a 21-16, 21-9 loss to Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong on Saturday.
PV Sindhu’s loss also brought the Indian challenge at the All England Open 2021 to an end.
"I think it was her day, everything she was hitting was on the line, I just couldn't do anything about it. Overall, I should've controlled my unforced errors, maybe things could've been different then,” PV Sindhu said.
“I knew it was going to be a good match, she's not an easy player and she's doing well. Her strokes are really good and she's going to be a really good player,” the Indian added.
Coming into the match on the back of a 76-minute marathon slugfest against Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in the quarter-finals, PV Sindhu looked a little slow off the blocks. The Indian shuttler trailed Chochuwong by five-points going into the first mid-game interval of the match.
Chochuwong, whose quarter-final endeavour against USA’s Beiwen Zhang lasted half the duration of Sindhu’s, looked fresher and sharper than the Indian in the opening exchanges and closed out the first game 21-17 to take the lead.
PV Sindhu toiled hard to find her groove in the second game, but Chochuwong’s solid all-round display didn’t leave any openings for the world No. 7 Indian to make any inroads.
The Thai player led 11-4 at the interval and relentlessly pressed her advantage and wrapped up the second game 21-9 and with it the match.
This was the two players’ second meeting in 2021, with PV Sindhu emerging victorious at the BWF World Tour Finals in Bangkok back in January.
PV Sindhu was eyeing to make her maiden All England Open final, having fallen at the semi-final stage in 2018 as well.
“Everybody aims to be in the final, it's over for now so I have to learn from my mistakes and take the positives,” Sindhu said. “I don't have a tournament for another month so I have time to prepare and come back stronger."
Lead photo: Badmintonphoto - Courtesy of BWF.