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The two-time Olympic medalist Indian shuttler PV Sindhu was knocked out of the ongoing Madrid Spain Masters in the quarterfinals on Friday following a loss to Thailand's Supanida Katethong.
The world-ranked 11th-ranked shuttler was defeated by her world-ranked 17th opponent in a 77-minute match 26-24, 17-21, 20-22. Sindhu won a hard-fought first game 26-24. The two-time Olympic medalist put up a brave fight during the other two games but fell short at crucial points of these games. A victory would have helped Sindhu reach her first semifinal on the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour since her return from injury earlier this month, as per Olympics.com. This was Sindhu's only second loss against Supanida in their nine matches. In October last year, Sindhu suffered a knee injury while playing against the Thailand shuttler, which sidelined her for the next four months. There was something to cheer for Team India as the mixed doubles duo of B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy reached the semifinals after beating Lisa Ayu Kusumawati and Rehan Kusharjanto 14-21, 21-11, 21-17. Their opponents in the semifinals will be the Indonesian pair of Rinov Rivaldy and Pitha Mentari. Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa, the third-seed in women's doubles, lost their quarterfinal match against Lee Chia Hsin and Teng Chun Hsun of Chinese Taipei 13-21, 19-21. The Indian men's doubles pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila went down to Malaysia's Junaidi Arif and Yap Roy King in the quarterfinals 19-21, 23-21, 17-21. The tournament started on March 26 and will end on March 31. The Madrid Spain Masters 2024 offers players ranking points for the Paris 2024 Olympics, taking place from July-August this year. The ranking period for badminton began on May 1, 2023, and will end next month. (ANI)
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