Bali, Nov 27 (UNI) India’s two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu crashed out of Indonesia Open super 1000 tournament after suffering a defeat at the hands of Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand in the semi-final.
After taking the first game, Sindhu couldn’t manage to carry her momentum in the next two games and suffered a defeat by 21-15, 9-21, 14-21.
The ace Indian shuttler, who was seeded third, had a fine start as she opened a healthy 7-3 lead; Ratchanok hits back with three consecutive points and managed to reduce the score board deficit.
By the time of break, Sindhu was leading with 11-9. Post break, she extended her lead to 15-11.
Intanon earned couple of points but Sindhu kept her energy high and took a 5-point lead, 18-13. Inatnon tried hard to turn the table but she hit a long back and Sindhu pocketed the first game with 21-15.
Second game looked completely different than the first, as Intanon started off aggressively with couple of straight smashes. Taking 4-straight points, thai shuttler took up a 5-2 early lead in the second game. Intanon looked very much in control as she maintained her rythym and went onto mid-game interval with 11-7 lead.
Post interval, Intanon strenghthen her grip as Sindhu couldn’t managed to nibble the scoreboard deficit. The Thai player tuned the table in her favour by taking the second game and forced the match into the decider.
In the decider, Sindhu took 2 early points by forcing her opponent to commit error but Intanon makes up to those errors quickly and equalizes the score 2-2.
Later, five points in a row opened an 8-4 lead for Intanon that created a trouble for Sindhu. Intanon took a massive 6 point lead at the time of break with the score 11-5.
With the game at 16-9,Sindhu tried to cling on to the match with 4 straight points and reduced the lead to 16-13, but that wasn’t enough for the Indian to save the match, as Intanon broke Sindhu’s momentum by taking two points and made it impossible for her to bounce back.
With 7 match points, the Thai player won the game by 21-14 and proceeded into the title clash.
Intanon will now face the fourth-seed An Se-young of South Korea in the final who earlier in the day defeated Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand by 21-19, 21-19.
UNI BAV ING