Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu fought valiantly but was outperformed by the sixth-seeded Han Yue of China in a gruelling pre-quarter final match of the Badminton Asia Championships here on Thursday.
Sindhu, who is desperately seeking to rediscover her form ahead of the Paris Olympics, fought hard for an hour and nine minutes before losing 18-21, 21-13, 17-21 to Yue, against whom she had a flawless 5-0 record before Thursday’s contest.
In other Indian results, the women’s doubles combination of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa also lost in the pre-quarter finals, going down 17-21, 12-21 against third-seeded Japanese pair of Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida.
The Indian started on a bright note in the first game and used her experience to race to a 8-4 lead, which she increased to 14-8 before the Chinese made a gallant comeback as errors started to creep into Sindhu’s game.
The Chinese engaged Sindhu in long rallies, tiring her up to draw level at 15-15.
Yue never looked back from there on, keeping control of the proceedings to wrap up the first game in her favour.
A jolted Sindhu was in attacking mode in the next game and played aggressively to pocket the second game. But Sindhu let the momentum slip after a good start in the
decider.