PV Sindhu crashed out of the Korea Open badminton tournament in the opening round after losing to American Beiwen Zhang here on Wednesday (September 25).
Sindhu, who became the first Indian to win Badminton World Championships gold last month, was beaten 21-7, 22-24, 15-21 by World No. 10 Beiwen in a contest that lasted 57 minutes. (BADMINTON NEWS)
The Indian had also made an early exit from the China Open earlier this month. Sindhu, an Olympic silver medallist and the current World No. 3, squandered a first-game advantage to go down 12-21, 21-13, 21-19 to Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong in a women's singles pre-quarterfinals.
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Praneeth, Saina Injured
In men's singles, B Sai Praneeth was forced to retire midway in his first-round match against Anders Antonsen of Denmark.
Praneeth had lost the first game 9-21 and was trailing 7-11 in the second when he chose to retire because of injury, thus sending Antonsen through to the Round of 16.
In other women's singles match, Saina Nehwal was trailing 21-19, 18-21, 1-8 against South Korea's Kim Ga Eun when she was forced to retire.
Saina had a 2-0 head-to-head record against Eun in their previous matches.
Saina has had a tough year owing to injuries. She won the Indonesia Open at the beginning of the season but has struggled since then. At the China Open Super 1000 event last week, she made a first-round exit.
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(With PTI Inputs)
