The last time PV Sindhu beat a top-10 ranked rival in the BWF circuit was October last year. Needless to say, the shuttler has predominantly struggled to replicate that kind of touch since then. On Thursday, Sindhu, displaying shades of her well-known fighting prowess, was in sight of repeating that feat but she agonisingly missed out. Just a few hours later, the Indian men's doubles combination of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty brought to the fore their warrior-like spirit to advance to the quarterfinals.
Up against Pornpawee Chochuwong, a World No 8 from Thailand, in the ongoing Indonesia Open, Sindhu fought tooth and nail to be in contention until the closing stages of the marathon match that lasted 78 minutes. However, Pornpawee, the India Open runner-up, held her nerves to walk away with a victory. The eventual score read 20-22, 21-10, 21-18 in the 27-year-old's favour. It was yet another setback for Sindhu. However, the double Olympic medallist is encouraged by her latest effort. "A lot to learn from this match and this tournament as well and prepare for the next event," she said after the match.
"Having a new coach, it took some time to come together and accordingly work together...when you get a new coach, sometimes it takes time. Both need to understand each other. Things are going well and of course, there's a lot of scope to improve. I think we are on the right track," she noted.
Sindhu, who has four first-round exits this year, has struggled to find any sort of rhythm this year. Given her current predicament, the last few days have been slightly better for the 29-year-old. She had beaten Nozomi Okuhara in the opening round. Just a few days ago, she had stretched China's Yue Fie, the 2020 Olympic champ and current World No 5, before losing in three games during the Singapore Open. "Playing like this, I'm positive that I'm not that far away (from big wins). But it's just one tournament at a time for me and it's also important to go back and learn from the mistakes because every tournament is new. I think it's not too far away," she assessed.
SatChi rally to advance
Down one game and behind on points at half-way stage of the second, the usually-assured doubles combination of Satwik and Chirag were staring at an unlikely exit during the men's doubles second-round tie against Rasmus Kjaer and Frederik Sogaard. The Danish pair was clearly dictating the pace of the game at that stage. Satwik, at one point, could be seen gesturing to himself to calm down. Despite being in a tricky spot, the Indian duo recovered to grab the second game and stay in the hunt before going on to navigate a closely-fought decider. With a 16-21, 21-18, 22-20 win, the Indians earned a quarterfinal berth in the process. Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, the women's doubles pair from the country, also showed some fight in their second game against the Japanese pair of Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto but it was not enough. They lost 13-21, 22-24 to bow out. The mixed doubles combination of Sathish Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath also bowed out.