BIRMINGHAM, March 12: Star Indian shuttler PV Sindhu suffered an inexplicable meltdown, bowing out of the All England Championships with a three-game loss to Korea’s Kim Ga Eun in the women’s singles opening round on Wednesday.
The two-time Olympic medallist, returning after recovering from a hamstring injury, squandered an opening-game advantage to lose 21-19, 13-21, 13-21 to world number 21 Kim in a match that lasted just over an hour at Arena Birmingham.
Sindhu, 29, was cruising at 20-12 in the opening game but almost threw it away, allowing Kim to recover to 19-20 before eventually winning the game.
However, Sindhu’s form dipped thereafter, while Kim grew in confidence, which was reflected in her improved movement and shot selection.It was yet another disappointing result for world number 16 Sindhu, who had exited in the opening round of the Indonesia Masters in January, following a quarterfinal finish at the India Open Super 750 to start the year.
India’s Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde, however, progressed to the second round of mixed doubles competition, prevailing 21-10 17-21 24-22 over Chinese Taipei’s Ye Hong Wei and Nicole Gonzales Chan, ranked 41st.The duo will face fifth seeds Yan Zhe Feng and Ya Xin Wei of China next. (PTI)
