PV Sindhu crashes out, HS Prannoy in semis of Badminton Asia Championships 2018

PV Sindhu failed to get across 2015 World Championships bronze medallist Sung Ji Hyun, an opponent she has played 11 times, as she crashed out of the Asia Badminton Championship in Wuhan on Friday.

Meanwhile, World No. 10 HS Prannoy progressed to the semi-finals of the men’s singles segment. Prannoy, who had missed out of a medal at the Commonwealth Games, dug deep into his reservoir to eke out a hard-fought 18-21, 23-21, 21-12 win over second seeded Korean Son Wan Ho in a match that lasted an hour and 12 minutes. He will face Olympic champion and third seed Chen Long next.

Earlier, Sindhu, who had recovered from an ankle sprain midway through the Commonwealth Games, squandered a 16-12 advantage to allow Sung Ji pocket the opening game.

Sindhu simply wasn’t good enough in the second game as the Korean jumped to a 5-1 lead and kept her nose ahead at 11-9 during the interval. The world no 9 reeled off seven straight points to double her lead and soon shut the doors on the Indian.

A lot was also expected from Kidambi Srikanth after his win overLee Chong Wei en route to India’s maiden gold in mixed team event at CWG but the Malaysian on Friday came out with all cylinders blazing, moving to a massive 13-4 lead in the opening game and closing the opening game without breaking a sweat.

Chong Wei, who had defeated Srikanth for the individual gold at Gold Coast, kept his distance from the Indian in the second game as well after moving to a 10-8 lead. Despite Srikanth’s best efforts, Chong Wei walked away with the game and the match.