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World No. 11 and Indian teenage badminton sensation P.V. Sindhu has entered the second round of the Kumpoo Macau Open Grand Prix Gold tournament. Sindhu, who is the top seeded player in women’s singles category, defeated the World No. 182 Korean shuttler Kim Soo Jin in a tough three game match.
Sindhu, playing against a very low ranked player, started the match on a bad note as she trailed by three points at the start of the first game. But she made a good comeback as she levelled the scores to 8 all. The game was going neck-to-neck at one stage but from 15-16, the Korean shuttler took five consecutive points to win the game 21-15.
The second game was a completely one sided affair as Sindhu didn’t give her opponent even a single chance to come close. From 1-all, Sindhu won five points in a row to take a strong lead of 6-1. This lead proved to be very crucial for the young Indian shuttler as she managed to keep this lead till the end and won the second game with ease by the score of 21-12.
The third game was a lot similar to the second game as Sindhu once again showed off her skills and proved her dominance over the less experienced Korean shuttler. From 3-all Sindhu won the next eight points in a row to take the score to 11-3. With such a huge lead, Sindhu had absolutely no difficulty in closing the third game 21-9.
Sindhu will now play World No. 62 Thai shuttler Salakjit Ponsana in the second round of the tournament.
Another Indian shuttler and World No. 72 P.C. Thulasi caused a huge upset as she stunned the World No. 12 and second seed of the tournament Nichaon Jindapon of Thailand 22-20, 21-19 in a first round match which lasted for 46 minutes.
Thulasi will now lock horns with the World No. 62 Chinese shuttler Suo Di in the next round.
Meanwhile, Sayali Gokhale thrashed the 8th seeded Taipei shuttler Chi Ya Cheng 24-22, 21-15 in her opener.
There was a bit of disappointment in the men’s singles category as the Indian challenge in this category got snuffed out. Sourabh Verma lost to the 9th seeded Jen Hao Hsu of Chinese Taipei whereas 12th seeded and World No. 46 H.S. Prannoy lost to the World No. 198 Tam Chun Hei of Hong Kong 21-1321-18 in the second round.
In mixed doubles, the 7th seeded Indian pair of Tarun Kona and Ashwini Ponappa lost to the unseeded Thai pair of Nipitphon and Puttita 21-10 17-21 21-13 in 50 minutes.
In women’s doubles, World Championships bronze medallist pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa retired when they were trailing 0-2 in the opening game.
