World Champion PV Sindhu bowed out of the opening round of Korea Open on Wednesday after facing a defeat against Beiwen Zhang in a three-game encounter.
Sindhu had earlier crashed out of the China Open in the pre-quarterfinal of China Open last week. In the Korea Open first-round encounter against the American Zhang, Sindhu failed to get going and lost the match 21-7, 22-24, 15-21. Sindhu had earlier defeated the same opponent at the World Championships at Basel but the American opponent registered a win against Sindhu at this time.
This loss would be a difficult one to digest for the 5th seeded PV Sindhu as she had a match point in the second game itself but failed to convert it into a victory in front of her name. The win has helped Beiwen stop Sindhu’s three-match winning streak over her.
Meanwhile, B Sai Praneeth also bowed out of the tournament after he was forced to retire midway through the game owing to an injury. Praneeth had lost the first game to Anders Antonsen and was trailing 7-11 in the second game when he decided he will not play further as the injury could go worse.
Notably, the 27-year-old had entered the Korea Open after making an exit at the quarterfinal stage of the recently concluded China Open. Prior to that, Praneeth had won a bronze medal at the World Championships in Basel. His bronze medal had ended India’s 36-year search for a medal in men’s singles category.
Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap will be in action later in the course of the tournament.