-Olympics
India’s campaign at the Arctic Open 2023 badminton tournament ended following PV Sindhu’s loss in the women’s singles semi-finals at the Vantaa Energia Areena in Finland on Saturday.
PV Sindhu, 13th in the badminton rankings, lost 12-21, 21-11, 7-21 to the People’s Republic of China’s Wang Zhi Yi in her final four encounter.
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu started the match on the frontfoot and raced to a 5-2 lead. The Indian badminton player, however, failed to follow through and allowed Wang Zhi Yi to come back into the match before taking the opening game.
PV Sindhu, who had beaten Wang Zhi Yi in both head-to-head meetings between the two players previously, hit back in the second game and looked comfortable from start to end.
In the deciding game, PV Sindhu took the early initiative and held a narrow 4-3 lead before Wang Zhi Yi turned the tables with six back-to-back points. From that point onwards, PV Sindhu was always playing catch up and the fifth-seeded Chinese shuttler proceeded to close out the match in one hour and three minutes.
Wang Zhi Yi had also accounted for Sindhu’s compatriot Aakarshi Kashyap in the pre-quarterfinals.
This was PV Sindhu’s fourth appearance in the semi-finals this season.
PV Sindhu was the only Indian badminton player left at the Arctic Open badminton tournament. Kidambi Srikanth had bowed out in the round of 16.
Results at the Arctic Open 2023, a BWF Super 500 event, will count towards qualifying rankings for the Paris 2024 Olympics
Featured Image: The Economic Times