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Indian shuttler Malvika Bansod lost to Denmark's Mia Blichfeldt in the finals of the Hylo Open 2024 badminton tournament in Saarbrucken, Germany on Sunday.
Seeded sixth at the BWF Super 300 tournament, Malvika Bansod lost to Mia Blichfeldt, the seventh seed, by a 21-10, 21-15 scoreline. On Saturday, Malvika Bansod had beaten another Danishwoman, Julie Dawall Jakobsen, to become only the third Indian woman after Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu to reach the final of a BWF World Tour tournament abroad. This was also the 23-year-old Malvika Bansod's second-ever final appearance on the BWF World Tour after finishing runners-up to PV Sindhu in the Syed Modi International BWF Super 300 event two years back. Malvika Bansod, 34th in the world badminton rankings, showcased some deft touches in the early exchanges and was level with world No. 36 Mia Blichfeldt at 9-9. However, the flow of the game changed completely from that juncture as the Dane stepped up a couple of gears to take 12 of the next 13 points. The Indian badminton player struggled to cope with her opponent's powerful returns in the second half of the opening game. The second game witnessed a stiffer fight from the Indian, who, aided by a couple of unforced errors by Blichfeldt, led by a couple of points at the halfway interval. However, just as she did in the first game, Blichfeldt upped the intensity after the restart and proceeded to close the match in 43 minutes. Malvika Bansod made it to the quarter-finals at the Hylo Open last year. Paris 2024 Olympics semi-finalist Lakshya Sen was the last Indian to win a title at the Hylo Open back in 2019. (ANI)
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