Korea Open: India’s campaign ends with Sindhu, Srikanth’s loss in semifinal

Suncheon (South Korea), April 9 (IANS): India’s campaign at the Korea Open Badminton Championships 2022 came to an end on Saturday after the country’s top shuttlers — PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth — lost their respective semifinal matches at the Palma Stadium, here.

Sindhu lost her women’s singles last-four match 14-21, 17-21 against the world No. 4 An Seyoung in 48 minutes.

Heading into the fixture, Sindhu, a former world champion had failed to beat the 20-year-old South Korean in any of their three previous meetings. The last time the two played each other, An Seyoung had denied the Indian ace the BWF World Tour Finals 2021 title.

Sindhu tried to start the match aggressively but some astonishing retrievals from An Seyoung frustrated her as the South Korean raced to a 7-1 lead.

The Indian shuttler managed to offset the early blows with a series of good points of her own but it was An Seyoung with an 11-6 lead heading into the first mid-game interval of the match.

Despite Sindhu’s best efforts, An Seyoung controlled the flow of the match and won the first game 21-14.

Looking for a sharp response, Sindhu took a 3-0 lead in the second game but it was not long before An Seyoung responded and it was the South Korean again who led by two points at the break.

An Seyoung’s court coverage was exquisite and her range of shorts continued to baffle the Indian star as the match progressed.

Trailing 14-9, Sindhu upped the ante and managed to bring down the deficit to just a single point with the help of some brilliant cross-court winners.

However, it wasn’t quite enough to topple the in-form South Korean who wrapped up the match.

Meanwhile, Kidambi Srikanth also lost his men’s singles semis against Indonesian second-seed Jonatan Christie by a 19-21, 16-21 scoreline.

Srikanth, seeded fifth, started the match well and led for most of the first game but the world No. 8 Cristie flipped the script right at the end to take the lead.

The second game was a tight affair in the initial stages but from a 14-all scoreline, Christie stepped up to take control and ended the match in 49 minutes.

Srikanth’s loss brought India’s campaign at the Korea Open to an end.