Seoul: PV Sindhu progressed to the semifinals of women’s singles but it was curtains for Sameer Verma in men’s singles at the USD 6,00,000 Korea Open Super Series badminton tournament, here Friday.
Sindhu recovered from a mid-game slump to stave off the challenge from World No.19 Minatsu Mitani of Japan 21-19, 16-21, 21-10 in a match that lasted 63 minutes.
The fifth seeded Indian, who had a 1-1 head to head record against the Japanese, will next face a Chinese player – either third seed Sung Ji Hyun or sixth seed He Bingjiao.
Sameer had defeated Korean Son Wan Ho in the first round at India Super Series in March this year but since then the Korean has climbed to the top of world rankings. Sameer tried his best, but the Korean dished out a gritty performance to beat the Indian 20-22, 21-10, 21-13 in a match that lasted 69 minutes.
In the women’s singles match, Sindhu eked out a 6-2 lead early on in the opening game but Mitani managed to claw back and turn the tables around, reaching 11-9 at the break. After a close battle till 16-16, Sindhu jumped to 19-16. In spite of Mitani again restoring parity at 19-all, Sindhu won next two points and the first game with two telling cross-court smashes.
In the second game, Mitani opened up a 8-4 lead but Sindhu surpassed her soon and was leading 12-9. But the Japanese once again clawed back at 13-13 and then moved away from the Indian to roar back into the contest.
In the decider, Sindhu showed her class as she didn’t give any chance to Mitani to make any recovery after zooming to a 9-2 lead. She was 11-6 at the break, which she extended to 19-9 after the interval, before slamming the door on the Japanese.
Dani bows out
Leuven (Belgium): Indian shuttler Harsheel Dani’s run at the Belgian International badminton tournament came to an end after he suffered a narrow 21-17, 10-21, 16-21 defeat to Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen in the men’s singles quarterfinals, here Friday. The match lasted 47 minutes. Harsheel had defeated sixth- seeded Malaysian Joo Ven Soong and England’s Toby Penty in the run-up to the quarterfinals.
At a glance
PV Sindhu bt Minatsu Mitani 21-19, 16-21, 21-10
Sameer Verma lost to Son Wan Ho 22-20, 10-21, 13-21
press trust of india
