SINDHU FALLS SHORT IN FINAL AGAIN, LOSES TO OKUHARA
BANGKOK: Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu’s title drought this year continued as she suffered a straight-game defeat against Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara in the summit clash of the $350,000 Thailand Open World Tour Super 500 badminton tournament on Sunday.
Second seed Sindhu struggled with her consistency as fourth seeded Okuhara dominated the proceedings to beat the Indian 21-15, 21-18 in 50 minutes.
It was Sindhu’s third disappointment in a final this year following defeats at the India Open and Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. She had lost to Okuhara in the final of World Championships final in a marathon final.
Sindhu, who had an ankle strain ahead of the CWG and missed the Uber Cup final, reached semi-final and quarterfinal in her last two tournaments -- in Malaysia and Indonesia -before making it to the final of Thailand Open.
World No 3 Sindhu showed glimpses of her best against Okuhara, who besides the initial part of the second game, looked in complete control over the proceedings. Okuhara, ranked No 8, stamped her class by taking a 6-2 lead in the opening game.
Sindhu used aggressive smashes to reduce the margin to 15-17. Okuhara came up with some aggressive net play which forced Sindhu to commit unforced errors and the Japanese pocketed four straight points to wrap up the first game in her favour. In the second game, Okuhara came back from 1-5 down and though it was neckand-neck towards the end, she saw off a resilient Sindhu to win.