Indian shuttler PV Sindhu could not repeat her 2015 heroics at the Denmark Open as she was ousted in the second round of this Superseries Premier tournament in Odense, Denmark on Thursday. The sixth seed, who was the runners-up last season at the tournament saved two match points but her massive efforts ultimately went in vain as she went down fighting, 13-21, 23-21, 18-21 to the 12th ranked Sayaka Sato of Japan in 1 hour 5 minutes.
This was the first event for the 21-year-old since her historic run at the Rio Olympics where she won a silver medal.
Ajay Jayaram and HS Prannoy bow out as well
With her loss, the Indian campaign at this prestigious tournament now comes to an end. Earlier in the day, Ajay Jayaram and HS Prannoy too bowed out in the same round of men’s singles. The Dutch Open runner-up Jayaram could not capitalize on the early defeat of the third seed and local star Jan O Jorgensen in the first round. He faced the 24th ranked Chinese Shi Yuqi, who beat him, 23-21, 21-15 in 46 minutes.
The Indian showed some wonderful resilience to come back from 15-20 in the opening game, yet lost it narrowly 21-23 to his major disappointment. As the Chinese grew stronger in the second game, Jayaram did not have many chances afterward.
Prannoy had a tough draw and was slated to face the top seed and World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei in the second round. After being outplayed by the Malaysian in the first game 10-21, the Indian put up a brave fight only to go down 10-21, 20-22 in 40 minutes.
Rio Olympic medallist PV Sindhu had never met the 12th ranked Sayaka Sato before and was initially troubled by the lefty’s angular crosscourt smashes into the corner all through the first game. She looked down and out even in the second game but succeeded in making a brilliant comeback by saving match points at 19-20 and 20-21 in Game 2.
In the third game, it was the Indian who made a confident start and led 6-4 before Sato leveled matters. The game continued to be competitive until 18-18 where Sato used her body-smash to perfection to surge to the win.
