India's campaign at the Badminton Asia Championships ended after P V Sindhu lost her women's singles quarter-final against Eriko Hirose of Japan in a hard-fought contest in Taipei on Friday.
The unseeded Indian presented her seventh-seeded opponent a tough challenge before going down 19-21, 21-16,11-21 in a battle that lasted exactly an hour.
Sindhu, who had beaten former World No.1 Shixian Wang in a third round match on Thursday, seemed to be in top form in the first two games before going down tamely in the third game.
The 17-year-old Hyderabadi gave the World No 12 a run for her money in the opening game. It was a neck-and-neck battle with the scores tied 10-10, with both trying hard to stay in the contest.
But Eriko managed to surge ahead with four consecutive points to make it 14-10. The advantage was, however, cut short by Sindhu as she quickly won four straight points, to make it even once again at 14-14.
Leading 17-16, Eriko got the momentum and won three points on the trot to reach game point.
Although Sindhu could save three of those and reduce the gap to 19-20 but she fumbled to save one more point and conceded the game.
In the second game, the Japanese girl opened up with a 8-4 lead and continued to move ahead before World No 16 Indian levelled at 14-14.
Thereafter, it was no looking back for Sindhu as she claimed five consecutive points to take a 19-14 lead and eventually bag the game comfortably.
In the third and deciding game, Sindhu started off well and looked set for another tough fight with the game evenly poised at 5-5.
But the Indian girl simply ran out of steam. While Eriko kept on increasing the lead, Sindhu fell behind and could win only six more points to lose it 11-21 in the end.
Sindhu will next play the India Open Super Series badminton, commencing on April 23 in New Delhi.
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