PV Sindhu and Sai Praneeth suffer shock opening-round exit at the Indonesia Open

    He Bing Jiao of China won against two-time Olympic medallist P.V. Sindhu of India 14-21, 18-21 at the Indonesia Open Super 1000 event on June 14

     

    P V Sindhu shock first round exit Image credit: pia.images.co.uk P V Sindhu shock first round exit

    World No. 9 Bing Jiao took revenge on P.V. Sindhu for her defeat at the Badminton Asia Championship. The victory improved her head-to-head record against the Indian shuttler to 10-8.

    The match had a cagey start for P.V. Sindhu, who looked slow right from the start, while He Bing Jiao controlled the game from the get-go and did not let the Indian shuttler find her footing, quickly racing to a 9-2 lead. P.V. Sindhu tried to fight back, but her Chinese extended the lead to 11-4.

    P.V. Sindhu launched a counterattack with renewed vigour after the break and clinched four consecutive points to narrow the lead of her Chinese opponent to 11-8. However, He Bing Jiao did not let P.V Sindhu get an advantage and quickly bagged the first game 21-14. 

    P.V. Sindhu gave a much better performance in the second game, despite He Bing Jiao having a slight advantage throughout the second game. The second game was close, but the Chinese eventually won the second game, 21-18, to secure a straight-set victory after 47 minutes of play.

    P.V Sindhu had previously won two Super 300 titles this season, the Syed Modi International and the Swiss Open. The early exit at the first round of the Super 1000 event against He Bing Jiao will negatively affect her preparations for the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Birmingham next month. She was the lone Indian shuttler in the women’s singles event at the Indonesia Open.

    In the men’s event, World No. 19 B Sai Praneeth of India was defeated by Danish shuttler Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus. 

    The World No. 21 Hans-Kristian Vittinghus defeated his Indian opponent in straight sets, 21-16, 21-19, to advance to the second round after just 45 minutes of play.

    Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth will start their Indonesia Open campaign on June 15.

     

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