File photo of PV Sindhu© AFP
Indian star PV Sindhu bowed out with a quarterfinal loss to Paris Olympics bronze-winner Gregoria Tunjung as the country's campaign came to an end in the Denmark Open badminton tournament on Friday. The 29-year-old Sindhu went down 13-21, 21-16, 9-21 in a nearly hour-long clash. The world number 8 from Indonesia, who had won just two matches from their 12 past encounters, was at her dominant best despite Sindhu managing to claim the second game. Top-seed An Se Young of South Korea will be the fifth-seeded Tunjung's semifinal opponent. Tunjung displayed command on the proceedings and reeled of eight points in a row to take the first game rather easily.
But Sindhu, who had stunned the fourth-seeded world number seven han Yue of China in the pre-quarters, looked a different player in the second game and raced to a 6-1 lead before her opponent levelled it six-all and rallied to a 9-7 lead.
Sindhu once again fought her way back to snatch the lead at 11-10 after the break and made it 19-15 before sealing the game 21-16 to take the match to the decider.
However, she could not sustain the momentum as Tunjung roared back to claim the lopsided game and with that, the match.
The loss continues a season of discontent for the two-time Olympic medal-winning Indian, who returned empty-handed from the Paris Games.