India’s campaign at the Indonesia Masters 2022 badminton tournament came to an end after both P.V. Sindhu and Lakshya Sen lost their respective quarterfinal matches at the Istora Stadium, here on Friday.
Sindhu, seventh in the badminton world rankings, suffered a heavy 12-21, 10-21 defeat against world No. 8 Ratchanok Intanon in the women’s singles quarterfinal, which lasted for just 33 minutes.
Intanon settled early into the match and built a strong 11-5 lead till the first break. Sindhu, a former world champion, could score only two points on her serve in the game and was penalised heavily by a tactically astute Ratchanok Intanon.
In pursuit of quick points, the Indian tried to keep the rallies short in the second game and as a consequence, made a series of unforced errors. Thai shuttler Intanon then used the corners and the dip shots well to move into the semifinals of the BWF Super 500 tournament.
Notably, this was Sindhu’s fifth consecutive loss against the 2013 world champion Intanon and her ninth overall in 13 games.
Meanwhile, Lakshya Sen lost his quarterfinal match to world No. 4 Chou Tien Chen of the Chinese Taipei 16-21, 21-12, 14-21 in one hour and two minutes.
The Indian shuttler, ranked ninth in the world, lost the first game convincingly but mounted a comeback to draw level in the second game. The third game saw both players engage in longer rallies. However, the 32-year-old Chen used his experience well to counter 20-year-old Sen and seal a spot in the semifinal.
This was Lakshya’s second straight defeat against Chen in as many matches. He had lost to Chou Tien Chen 21-19, 13-21, 21-17 in the Thomas Cup group stage match last month.
Sindhu and Sen, along with other top Indian badminton players Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy and Saina Nehwal, will be in action at the Indonesia Open — a BWF Super 1000 tournament starting next week.
(Inputs from IANS)