Singapore, May 30 (UNI) India's PV Sindhu faced a disappointing second-round exit at the Singapore Badminton Open 2024 BWF Super 750 tournament in Kallang on Thursday.
Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist, was defeated by Spain's world No. 3, Carolina Marin, in a nail-biting match that ended 13-21, 21-11, 22-20, lasting one hour and eight minutes.
This marks Sindhu's sixth consecutive loss to Marin, with her last victory against the Spaniard occurring in the quarterfinals of the Malaysia Open 2018. The rivalry between the two shuttlers is well-known, highlighted by their clash in the Rio 2016 Olympics final, where Marin triumphed.
Sindhu, currently ranked 12th in the world, started the match strongly, securing the first game with ease. However, Marin fought back to win the second game and eventually edged out Sindhu in the decider.
At one point, Sindhu led 18-15 in the final game but couldn't maintain her lead as Marin clawed her way back to victory. Marin now leads their head-to-head record 12-6.
In men's singles, India's top player HS Prannoy also exited in the second round. Prannoy, ranked 10th globally, lost to Japan's world No. 11 Kenta Nishimoto in a match that lasted 78 minutes, with scores of 21-13, 14-21, 21-15.
On a brighter note for India, the women's doubles team of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand advanced to the quarterfinals. They pulled off an impressive upset against the second-seeded and reigning All England champions, Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee of South Korea, winning 21-9, 14-21, 21-15 in 59 minutes.
Ranked 30th in the world, Treesa and Gayatri will face Olympic bronze medallists Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong of South Korea in the quarterfinals on Friday.
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