COPENHAGEN, Aug 22: Former title holder PV Sindhu suffered yet another early exit from a major tournament as she crashed out of the BWF World Championships 2023 after losing to Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara in the second round in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Tuesday.
In the clash of former world champions, Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara defeated 16th-seeded Sindhu 21-14, 21-14 in just 44 minutes.
It is for the very first time that PV Sidhu has not advanced to the quarterfinals of the prestigeous tournament.
Sindhu and Okuhara, best known for their marathon 110-minute -long 2017 World Championships final in Glasgow, have always produced engaging contests but the second round match at the second round match at the Royal Arena turned out to be a lop sided contest. The duo has been troubled by injuries in the last 12 months and had missed the last edition.
Lakshya Sen shines
Meanwhile, Lakshya Sen continues to impress on the badminton court as the 2021 bronze medallist completed a straight-game demolition of Korea’s Jeon Hyeok Jin to move into the round of 16.
Sen prevailed 21-11, 21-12 over the world number 51 Korean.
The 11th seeded Indian is likely to face third seeded Kunlavut Vitidsarn from Thailand in the next round. The Indian, thus, settled his score against the Korean, who had defeated him in their only meeting at the Asia Team Championship in 2022.
Sen was alert and took the initiatives during the rallies, showing his retrieval skills, speed and shot selection to dominate the proceedings.
The Indian lead 5-1 and slowly kept extending the gap against a struggling Jeon, who lacked the finishing punch during the fast-paced rallies.
Sen entered the interval with 11-6 lead and kept things under a firm grip even after resumption to quickly move to 18-11 before sealing the first game with three straight points.
In the second game, Sen opened up a 4-1 lead before extending it to 10-5 with a whipping forehand return. Another straight jump smash helped the Indian make it 11-5 at the break.
Sen continued to construct his points and got behind the shuttle early to produce clean winners to grab eight match points and converted it in his second attempt. (Agencies)
