India’s campaign at the <a href="https://www.archysport.com/2024/07/exciting-lineup-of-badminton-tournaments-in-2024-around-the-world/” title=”Exciting Lineup of Badminton Tournaments in 2024 Around the World”>Kumamoto Masters Japan 2024 badminton tournament ended early after former world champion PV Sindhu lost to Canada’s Michelle Li in the women’s singles round of 16 match on Thursday.
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, 20th in the badminton rankings, began strongly but could not sustain the momentum to go down with a 21-17, 16-21, 17-21 scoreline against her world No. 23 opponent.
The Indian badminton player used her reach to stay on the offensive in the first game and led by four points at the mid-game interval. Li reduced the deficit by two points at 15-13 but Sindhu quickly regained control to seal the opening game.
A former Commonwealth Games champion, Michelle Li mixed her shots well to trouble Sindhu in the second game. Trailing by five points at 8-3, Sindhu fought back to level at 9-9 and contested for the lead after the interval. However, Li dominated the closing stretch, winning six of the last eight points to force the decider.
The two badminton players exchanged leads several times in the final game. However, Sindhu, who had a 17-16 advantage, lost five straight points to crash out of the BWF Super 500 event.
This was Sindhu’s fifth loss against Michelle Li in 15 meetings. Three of those losses have come in the last four head-to-head matches since last year.
Sindhu is still searching for her first title on the BWF World Tour since her victory at the Singapore Open in July 2022. She last reached the final on the BWF Tour at the Malaysia Masters BWF Super 500 tournament in May this year.
In the first round on Wednesday, Sindhu defeated Thailand’s world No. 11 Busanan Ongbamrungphan 21-12, 21-18.
Paris 2024 semi-finalist Lakshya Sen and Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand failed to make the second round in men’s singles and women’s doubles, respectively.
