Badminton Asia C'ships: Prannoy, Sindhu lose as Indian challenge end

Indian challenge at the Badminton Asia Championships on Thursday ended after double Olympic medalist PV Sindhu and World championship medalist HS Prannoy lost in their round of 16 matches.

Along with them, Ashwini Ponnappa-Tanisha Crasto also lost their game in the women's doubles category going down 17-21,12-21 to third-seeded Japanese pair of Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida.

PV Sindhu lost to sixth seed Han Yue of China 18-21,21-13,17-21 while seventh seed HS Prannoy went down meekly to unseeded Lin Chun-Yi of Chinese Taipei 18-21,11-21 in just 43 minutes.

PV Sindhu fought valiantly in the marathon match that went over an hour but her errors cost her the game.

Sindhu started well and raced to a lead of 8-4 in the first game. However, Han came back as Sindhu started erring on the sidelines to make it 15-15

With the momentum on her side, Yue never looked back from there on, keeping control of the proceedings to wrap up the first game in her favour by 21-18.

Sindhu came attacking in the second game and played aggressively. With her reach and winners, Sindhu raced to a 16-8 lead in the second game. Despite efforts of comeback from Han, Sindhu didn't give any chance this time and won the second game 21-13.

In the decider, Sindhu was on the money from the first shot and took an early lead of 8-4. Eventually, Sindhu started getting tired and Han used this to her advantage.

From 10-10, Yue raced to 17-10 before Sindhu pocketed a few points to reduce the margin to 20-17. Sindhu saved two game points, but eventually, the Chinese shut the door on the celebrated Indian shuttler.

In men's singles, Prannoy never looked confident and lost in straight games against Lin Chun-Yi. Both shuttlers went neck-to-neck till 7-7in the first game but Lin took an 11-7 lead.

Prannoy used all his experience and shots in his reservoir to claw his way back and level the scores at 15-15 before the Chinese Taipei shuttler pocketed three straight points from 18 apiece to take the lead.

Prannoy started the second game on an aggressive note and raced to a 4-1 lead. But the fatigue of playing a 90-minute marathon from the last day started showing up and he conceded the game rather meekly 21-11.