Badminton Asia Championship: India’s campaign ends with Sindhu, Prannoy’s defeat

India’s campaign at the Badminton Asia Championships 2024 ended on Thursday with the defeat of two-time Olympic medalists PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy in the last 16 of the women’s and men’s singles categories respectively.

Sindhu lost to world number 7 Han Yu by the scores of 18-21, 21-13, 17-21 in a match that lasted 69 minutes at the Ningbo Olympic Sports Center in China. This was Sindhu’s first defeat against the Chinese shuttler in six matches.

Sindhu dominated the first game and led by six points at the break. The two-time Olympic medalist was leading 15-10, but Han Yu took the lead by winning six consecutive points and then managed to win the first game.

The Indian badminton player responded strongly and won the second game easily to take the match to the third game. However, the Chinese shuttler eliminated Sindhu by winning the third game.

Earlier on Wednesday, Sindhu had defeated former Youth Olympic Games winner Goh Jin Wei of Malaysia in the first round.

In men’s singles, Prannoy, ranked ninth in the world, lost 18-21, 11-21 to Lin Chun-Yi of Chinese Taipei.

Prannoy made a comeback after falling behind by four points in the first game and leveled the game at 15 points. But Lin Chun-Yi won the first game and did not give any chance to the Indian shuttler in the second game.

Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto both bowed out of the women’s doubles tournament. Ponnappa and Crasto, India’s highest-ranked pair of world No. 20, were defeated by world No. 3 pair of Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida 21-17 and 21-12 in 49 minutes.