Olympic medallist PV Sindhu bows out French Open Super Series

Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu suffered another second round defeat when she went down fighting against He Bingjiao of China in the women's singles competition at the USD 300,000 French Open Super Series badminton tournament on 28 October.

Sixth seed Sindhu, who had beaten Bingjiao at the Denmark Open last week, could not get past her rival this time and lost 20-22 17-21 to the Chinese in a 41-minute match.

In the men's singles, India's HS Prannoy also failed to cross the second round as he lost 19-21 16-21 to fifth seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei in the match that lasted 42 minutes.

Sindhu blew away a 12-8 and 20-18 lead in the opening game as Bingjiao kept breathing down her neck and sealed it after reeling off four straight points.

In the second game, Bingjiao did not give Sindhu much chance to make a comeback as she led from the front, moving to 11-6 at the break and then surging to a 18-9 lead. Sindhu tried her bit and narrowed down the gap to 17-19 before the Chinese shut the door on the Indian.

In the men's singles match, Prannoy was ahead at 8-5 and 18-15 but he faltered at the final stages to allow Chou pocket the opening game.

In the second game, Chou was more dominant as he opened up a 9-4 lead and even though the Indian caught up at 14-14, Chou zoomed ahead without much ado to win the match.

(PTI)