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India's campaign at the Badminton Asia Championships 2024 ended on a bitter note after Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and ace shuttler HS Prannoy suffered defeats in their Round of 16 matches in the women's and men's singles, respectively, on Thursday.
Sindhu lost to world No. 7 Han Yue in a match that lasted for 69 minutes at the Ningbo Olympic Sports Centre in China with scores of 18-21, 21-13, 17-21. This was Sindhu's first loss to the Chinese shuttler in six matches. Sindhu dominated the first game, leading by six points at the break. The two-time Olympic medalist was up 15-10, but Han Yue won six consecutive points to reclaim the lead and then raced away to win the first game. The Indian badminton player replied strongly, winning the second game handily to force a final. Sindhu began the third game strongly, leading 8-4, but the Chinese shuttler recovered to terminate Sindhu's Round of 16 campaign. Sindhu defeated Malaysia's Goh Jin Wei, a former Youth Olympic Games winner, in the first round on Wednesday. Prannoy, rated ninth in the world, was defeated in the men's singles Round of 16 by Lin Chun-Yi of Chinese Taipei, ranked nineteenth, 18-21, 11-21. Prannoy battled back from a four-point deficit in the first game to tie the game at 15 all. Lin Chun-Yi stepped up, winning the opening game before overwhelming the Indian shuttler in the second. Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto were both eliminated from the women's doubles tournament. Ponnappa and Crasto, India's highest-ranked pair at world No. 20, fell to the world No. 3 pair of Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida. 21-17 and 21-12 in 49 minutes. (ANI)
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