Sindhu loses in 2nd round as India's campaign ends

Rio Olympics silver medallist P V Sindhu suffered a narrow loss against Sayaka Sato of Japan in the women's singles to draw curtains on India's campaign at the Denmark Super Series in Odense, on Thursday.

Sindhu went down fighting 13-21, 23-21, 18-21 to World No. 12 Sato in a second round match that lasted an hour and five minutes.

It was Sindhu first event after the Olympics and her next tournament is the French Open next week.

It was a bad day for India at Denmark as Ajay Jayaram and  H S Prannoy also suffered losses in the second round of the men's singles event.

Jayaram fought hard before going down 21-23, 15-21 to Shi Yuqi of China, while Prannoy lost 10-21, 20-22 to top seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in a gruelling contest.

Sindhu fought back from 1-3 to lead 12-8 at one stage but she blew it as sato marched ahead, reeling off sixth points and then grabbing seven straight points.

In the second game, Sindhu was 10-15 down but she didnt give up and turned the tables after being tied 21-21 at one stage.

The decider was another tough battle as both the shuttlers went neck and neck till 18-18 when the Japanese surged ahead.

Image: P V Sindhu

Photograph: Robertus Pudyanto/Getty Images