Sindhu loses to Yamaguchi, wins bronze at Asia C’ships

MANILA: Ace Indian shutler PV Sindhu setled for the bronze medal ater losing to reigning World champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the 2022 Badminton Asia Championships women’s singles semi-final, here on Saturday.

The 26-year old Sindhu, a former world champion, went down to world No 2 Yamaguchi 21-13, 19-21, 21-16 in one hour and six minutes for her second bronze medal at the continental event.

Sindhu’s first Asian championships medal came in 2014 when she lost to former world No 1 Wang Shixian of China in the semis.

World No 7 got off to another good start and dominatedherjapaneserivalintheearlyexchanges. Using her height well to create angles, Sindhu sealed the first game without much challenge.

The second game saw much more intent from Yamaguchi, who won four of the first five points. Sindhu, however, found her rhythm and pocketed the next six points. The Indian shutler went from 4-1 down to lead 11-6 at the break. But, the Indian ace’s momentum was broken at the post-break interval ater she was penalised for not serving sooner. Yamaguchi capitalised on the opening and stretched the game into the decider.

The third game saw the Japanese shutler rely more on det touches and drop shots against a taller Sindhu. Both shutlers engaged in longer rallies as the game progressed. However, Yamaguchi, known for having a penchant for closing out games, kept her cool to seal a spot in Sunday’s final.

This was Sindhu’s ninth loss against her higherranked opponent in 22 meetings. The Indian ace, who is a two-time Olympic medallist, had defeated Yamaguchi at last year’s BWF World Tour Finals and the Tokyo Olympics quarter-finals.sindhu made her way into the medal round ater a nervy 21-9, 13-21, 21-19 win over China’s He Bing Jiao, who she had defeated to win bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.

India’s challenge at the individual continental championship came to end with Sindhu’s defeat as Saina Nehwal’s shot at claiming a fourth medal at the tournament ended with her loss to China’s Wang Zhi Yi early on, while seventh-seeded Kidambi Srikanth was ousted by China’s Weng Hong Yang in the men’s singles second round.

India’s men’s doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shety made a quarterfinal exit on Friday as they lost 21-12, 14-21,16- 21 to the fith seeded Malaysian pair of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik.