Manila, April 30: Ace Indian shuttler PV Sindhu settled for the bronze medal after losing to reigning World champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the 2022 Badminton Asia Championships women’s singles semi-final, here on Saturday.
The 26-year old Sindhu, a former world champion, went down to world No 2 Yamaguchi 21-13, 19-21, 21-16 in one hour and six minutes for her second bronze medal at the continental event. Sindhu’s first Asian championships medal came in 2014 when she lost to Wang Shixian of China.
The world No 7 got off to a good start, using her height to her advantage, and dominated her Japanese rival in the early exchanges.
Sindhu sealed the first game without much challenge but lost the next two.
This was Sindhu’s ninth loss against her higher-ranked opponent in 22 meetings. The Indian ace had defeated Yamaguchi at last year’s BWF World Tour Finals and the Tokyo Olympics quarter-finals.
Sindhu’s loss ended India’s challenge at the championships as other top Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen crashed out from the earlier rounds. (IANS)
