PV Sindhu Loses in Rd 2 of French Open badminton, India's Campaign Ends

Olympic silver meddalist PV Sindhu suffered another second round defeat when she went down fighting against He Bingjiao of China in the women's singles competition at the USD 300,000 French Open Super Series badminton tournament here on Friday.

Sixth seed Sindhu, who had beaten Bingjiao at the Denmark Open last week, could not get past her rival this time and lost 20-22, 17-21 to the Chinese in a 41-minute match.

In the men's singles, India's H S Prannoy also failed to cross the second round as he lost 19-21, 16-21 to fifth seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipeiin the match that lasted 42 minutes.

Sindhu blew away a 12-8 and 20-18 lead in the opening game as Bingjiao kept breathing down her neck and sealed it after reeling off four straight points.

In the second game, Bingjiao did not give Sindhu much chance to make a comeback as she led from the front, moving to 11-6 at the break and then surging to a 18-9 lead. Sindhu tried her bit and narrowed down the gap to 17-19 before the Chinese shut the door on the Indian.

In the men's singles match, Prannoy was ahead at 8-5 and 18-15 but he faltered at the final stages to allow Chou pocket the opening game.

In the second game, Chou was more dominant as he opened up a 9-4 lead and even though the Indian caught up at 14-14, Chou zoomed ahead without much ado to win the match.

B Sai Praneeth, who had won the Canada Open Grand Prix at Calgary in July, went down fighting 21-15, 8-21, 19-21 to Lee Hyun Il in the French Open first round

Indian shuttler B Sai Paneeth suffered a narrow defeat to Lee Hyun Il of Korea in the opening round of the men's singles competition at the USD 300,000 French Open superseries

Praneeth, who had won the Canada Open Grand Prix at Calgary in July, went down fighting 21-15, 8-21, 19-21 to Lee in a men's singles match that lasted close to an hour at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin.

Praneeth fought back from 3-5 and 6-9 down to reel off eight straight points in the opening game and eventually pocketed it comfortably.

But in the second game, Lee changed gears and didn't allow Praneeth to pose any threat as he marched ahead after leading 3-1 initially.

In the decider, Praneeth was 4-1 and 7-4 ahead at one stage but Lee turned the tables, leading 12-10 and after that it was a neck-and-neck battle till 19-19 when the Korean moved ahead to shut the doors on the Indian.

Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu and Swiss Open champion HS Prannoy are the only Indians left in the competition after Ajay Jayaram also bowed out.

Sixth seed Sindhu will face He Bingjiao of China, while Prannoy will take on Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen, seeded fifth.

PV Sindhu, HS Prannoy Win But Ajay Jayaram Loses in French Open

Olympic silver meddalist and HS Prannoy advanced to the second round with straight-game wins but it was curtains for Ajay Jayaram in the USD 300,000 French Open Super Series badminton tournament here on Wednesday.

In a 45-minute gruelling contest, Sindhu, who had suffered a loss in second round in Denmark Open last week, dished out a gritty performance to prevail 21-9 29-27 over Hong Kong's Yip Pui Yin in a women's singles match.

The two-time World Championship bronze medallist Indian will next take on the winner of the match between China's He Bingjiao and Denmark's Mette Poulsen.

Swiss Open champion Prannoy also disposed off Thailand's Boonsak Ponsana 21-16 21-18 in a 41-minute clash to set up against Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen, seeded fifth.

However, it turned out to a disappointing day for Jayaram, who squandered a first game advantage to go down fighting 22-20 10-21 18-21 to Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia in another men's singles match.

Sindhu was trailing 2-6 early on in the opening game but the Indian turned the tables with six straight points and then moved ahead with another six-point and five-point bursts before pocketing it comfortably.

The second game, however, turned out to be an edge-of-the seat thriller as despite leading 7-3 at one stage, Sindhu could not stop Yip from grabbing the lead at 15-13 and 19-16.

Sindhu then changed gears and what ensued next was a tough neck and neck battle till the final point as the duo moved from 19-19 to 26-26. At 26-27, Sindhu reeled off three consecutive points to storm into the second round.

PV Sindhu And Co. Start Campaign at French Open

Paris:

Rio2016 silver medallist PV Sindhu will look to shrug off the disappointment of last week's second round exit at Denmark Open and eye her maiden Super Series women's singles title when she competes at the French Open this week.

The 6th seeded Indian shuttler who had lost to Japan's Sayaka Sato in Odense, will open her campaign against Hong Kong's Yip Pui Yin at Stade Pierre de Coubertin.

In the next round, she is likely to take on China's He Bingjiao, against whom Sindhu had won at Denmark Open last week.

In men's singles, Dutch open finalist Ajay Jayaram will face a qualifier in the opening round, while Swiss Open champion HS Prannoy will square up against Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand.

Canada Open winner B Sai Praneeth will take on Korea's Lee Hyun Il in another men's singles event.

In men's doubles, Rio Olympians Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy have withdrawn.

In men's singles qualifiers, Sameer Verma will face Brazil's Ygor Coelho De Oliveira.

PV Sindhu went down fighting 13-21, 23-21, 18-21 to Sayaka Sato in a second round match of the Denmark Super Series that lasted an hour and five minutes

Odense:

Rio Olympics silver medallist PV Sindhu suffered a narrow loss to Sayaka Sato of Japan in women's singles to draw curtains on the Indian campaign at Denmark Super Series premier on Thursday.

In a battle of nerve, Sindhu went down fighting 13-21, 23-21, 18-21 to World No. 12 Sato in a second round match that lasted an hour and five minutes.

It was Sindhu first event after the Olympics and she will be back at French Open next week.

Sindhu fought back from 1-3 to lead 12-8 at one stage but she blew it as Sato marched ahead, reeling off sixth points and then grabbing seven straight points.

In the second game, Sindhu was 10-15 down but she didn't give up and turned the tables after being tied 21-21 at one stage.

The decider was another tough battle as both the shuttlers went neck and neck till 18-18 when the Japanese surged ahead.

It was a bad day for India at Denmark as Ajay Jayaram and HS Prannoy also suffered losses in the second round of men's singles competition.

Jayaram fought hard before going down 21-23, 15-21 to Shi Yuqi of China, while Prannoy lost 10-21, 20-22 to top seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in a gruelling contest.

Ajay Jayaram, the top seed, lost 10-21, 21-17, 18-21 to second seed Tzu Wei Wang of Chinese Taipei in a closely-fought Dutch Open men's singles final

Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram failed to clinch his third straight title at the Dutch Open badminton tournament as he went down fighting in the final on Sunday.

Top-seeded Jayaram lost 10-21, 21-17, 18-21 to second seed Tzu Wei Wang of Chinese Taipei in a close contest that lasted 55 minutes.

Jayaram had won the title of Dutch Open tournament in 2014 and 2015.

Jayaram made a poor start and he trailed throughout the first game and the closest he was to his opponent was when the score was 10-5 in favour of Wang.

The second game was a closely-fought affair and the two players were tied 9-9 but from there Jayaram nosed ahead and led till he took it 21-17.

In the decider, Jayaram trailed all through out and played catch-up, even though the difference in points was not big.

Towards the end, Jayaram clawed his way back and the scoreline was 18-17 in favour of the Wang but the Chinese Taipei player held his nerves to wrap up the match.

Sourabh Verma Clinches Chinese Taipei Badminton Grand Prix Title

Taipei City:

On a comeback trail after recovering from a series of injuries, Sourabh Verma on Sunday clinched the men's singles title at the Chinese Taipei Open after defeating Malaysia's Liew Daren in the summit clash of the USD 55,000 Grand Prix tournament in Taipei City.

The 23-year-old from Madhya Pradesh rallied to grab the first two games and emerged victorious after his opponent Liew retired in the third game due to a shoulder injury with the scoreline reading 12-10 12-10 3-3 in the Indian's favour.

It was a case of being third time lucky as Sourabh, who had ended runners-up at Belgium and Poland international challengers, finally crossed the finishing line after spending almost a year on the sidelines due to elbow and knee injuries last year.

"It is a great victory for me and a much needed one. I had reached the finals at Belgium and Poland but could not win. So I was determined not to make the same mistakes here and I am happy I could win today," Sourabh, who was the 2011 national champion and was runners-up this year, told PTI over the phone.

Sourabh started off well in the opening game and was leading 5-3 at one stage but Liew soon turned the tables with a five-point burst to lead 8-5. But Sourabh kept breathing down his neck and at 7-10, reeled off five straight points to grab the first game.

The second game turned out to be more difficult as Liew once again surged to a 5-1 lead and held on till 10-6 when the Indian stepped on the gas and once again grabbed six points on the trot to leave Liew shocked.

In the third game, after an initial battle, Liew retired at 3-3 owing to a problematic shoulder.

"My opponent was playing well but in the third game he felt some shoulder pain and retired. He was in fact leading in the first two games and was very comfortable. I started well but made too many mistakes. But I managed to pull off the opening game. In the second game also I gave away too many easy points but I am happy I could control it in the end," Sourabh said.

Talking about his injury-plagued phase, Sourabh said: "It has been a tough phase, I guess injuries are always difficult. Actually in 2014, I was in good shape, I was playing well but I could not win as I was cracking in crucial moments.

"But last year I was out of competition for most part of the year. I had a stress fracture in right elbow and it took 3-4 months to recover. I came back to training but again I got tendinitis in my left knee, which again kept me out for a couple of months.

"I did play one tournament in June at Hyderabad All India ranking and reached the finals. I finally made a comeback in November and also reached the finals at TATA Open in December last year.

"This year I didn't get to play too many tournaments. But after reaching the finals at Belgium and Poland, I was gaining in confidence. If I could have played more events then probably I could have won the titles," he added.

Sourabh said he will look to regain his place in the top 40 to be able to compete at Super Series events.

"I was in top 30 in 2015 March but suddenly my ranking dropped to 190 and that is the biggest hindrance, if I could have played I could have done better," he said.

"I'm concentrating on the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Golds now. I am playing Bitburger Open next. I have to get into the top 40 as soon as possible to get entry into superseries event."

Indian Shuttlers Claim Two Titles at Russian Open

Indian shuttlers signed off an impressive campaign at the Russian Open Grand Prix, notching the women's singles as well as the mixed doubles titles on Sunday.

Fourth seed Ruthvika Shivani Gadde emerged triumphant in the women's singles event, beating local favourite Evgeniya Kosetskaya 21-10, 21-13 in a 26-minute contest.

In the mixed doubles final, N Sikki Reddy and Pranaav Chopra edged past the Russian duo of Vladimir Ivanov and Valeria Sorokina 21-17 21-19 to claim the top honours.

However, it was heartbreak for Siril Verma who lost 21-16, 19-21, 10-21 to Malaysia's Zulfadli Zulkiffli in the men's singles final after battling it out for over an hour.

For Ruthvika, it was her second title of the year after the South Asian Games, where she had upstaged Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu in the final.