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Indian shuttle queen PV Sindhu achieved a win in her final group match as she finished her campaign at the BWF World Tour Finals 2019 on a high at Guangzhou, China on Friday. The 2018 winner needed 42 minutes to prevail over World No. 7 He Bingjiao 21-19, 21-19 to get her first win of the tournament this year.
It is in sharp contrast to Sindhu's performance last year when she remained undefeated to be crowned the champion. With wins against Akane Yamaguchi, Tai Tzu Ying, Beiwen Zhang, Ratchanok Intanon and Nozomi Okuhara, the Hyderabadi badminton ace cruised to the biggest title of her career until then.
However, a return to the Tianhe Gymnasium 12 months later did not prove to be so memorable as the world champion suffered a defeat in each of her first couple of matches, against Yamaguchi and Chen Yufei. Even though Sindhu began both those matches with a lead, she failed to maintain the momentum and lost in three gruelling games.
Even though it dashed her hopes of progressing out of Group A, Sindhu summoned the champion in her to grab that elusive win in her final group match against Bingjiao. Considering this was her first win in two years over her Chinese nemesis, it bodes well for the next season.
In some of the other matches of the day, 2015 winner Nozomi Okuhara strengthened her position at the top of Group B with yet another solid win. The Japanese needed just 40 minutes to defeat former world champion Ratchanok Intanon 21-14, 21-12.
World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying pummelled Busanan Ongbamrungphan 21-14, 21-9 while Chen Yufei inflicted a 21-14, 21-10 defeat on Akane Yamaguchi.
In men's singles, former winner Chen Long got the better of Chou Tien Chen 21-15, 21-19. There was no stopping the World No. 1 Kento Momota who cruised to a 21-14, 21-14 win over Indonesia's Jonatan Christie. Viktor Axelsen retired against Anthony Sinisuka Ginting while Denmark's Anders Antonsen secured a thrilling 23-21, 12-21, 21-12 win against Wang Tzu Wei.
