PV Sindhu crashed out in the pre-quarters of the Kumamoto Masters Japan Super 500 badminton tournament on Thursday. This defeat marks another premature end for Indians in an international badminton tournament.
World no. 20 Sindhu was the lone Indian in contention after the exits of Lakshya Sen and women's doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand.
Sindhu lost 21-17 16-21 17-21 against Canada's Michelle Li, ranked 23rd in the world, in a women's singles match that lasted one hour and 15 minutes.
It was neck and neck between the two shuttlers in the first game before Sindhu took a marginal 11-8 lead and from there on kept her nose just ahead to take early advantage.
Trailing, Li came out attacking in the second game and raced to an 8-3 lead before Sindhu clawed back as the scoreline read 16-16 at one time.
But Li then upped her game and pocketed five straight points to draw parity in the contest.
The decider saw a close battle between the two shuttlers till 17 points when Li forced the pace, pocketing four straight points to wrap up the match. The Canadian was also helped by Sindhu's unforced errors.
Li will play Siouth Korea's Yu Jin Sim in the quarterfinals.
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