Badminton

Two-time Olympic medallist went down fighting 12-21, 21-19, 14-21 world no 10 Chochuwong, in a match that lasted an hour and 11 minutes. With this loss, Sindhu finished runners-up in group A and will face either Pornpawee Chochuwong or the Group B winner Akane Yamaguchi in the top four. Heading into the match, both Sindhu and Chochuwong had already confirmed their semis berths and were playing for the top position in Group A.

The Indian pair had to leave the match midway as Satwiksairaj complained of knee pain during the match against Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamulio. Badminton Federation of India tweeted about Indian Men's doubles pair's pullout from the tournament.

Two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu lost 21-15, 9-21, 14-21 to Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon in a 54-minute women''s singles semi-final clash. This was the third successive semi-final loss for the 26-year-old at a BWF event after the French Open and the Indonesia Masters. It was also her third straight loss to world no 8 Intanon.

Two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu stormed into the women's singles quarter-finals with a comfortable 21-12, 21-18 victory over German shuttler Yvonne Li in a clash, which lasted for just 37 minutes. After the initial exchanges in the first game, the two players went neck-and-neck as the reigning world champion maintained a two-point lead at 6-4. The Indian won seven consecutive points in this game as she took a 16-9 lead before going on to win the game 21-12.

The reigning world champion wasn't at her usual best and lost 13-21 9-21 in a one-sided contest that lasted for just 32 minutes. The two-time Olympic medallist struggled with keeping her returns in right from the start and she never recovered from an early deficit. On the other hand, Yamaguchi got a great dip on her shots, often catching Sindhu out at the net and as the Japanese shuttler registered a comfortable win.

Pulling the biggest upset of the day, the 2014 Indonesia Masters winner Prannoy beat Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Viktor Axelsen of Denmark 14-21, 21-19, 21-16 in an intense one hour 11 minutes men's singles second round match. Down and out in the first game, the Indian shuttler made a stunning comeback to defeat the World no 2. It was Prannoy's first victory in six attempts against Axelsen. He will now face compatriot and former world No 1 Kidambi Srikanth in the quarterfinals.

Sindhu, the 26-year-old two-time medallist at the Olympic Games and a World Champion, lost the first game but powered back to win the next two to beat Clara Azurmendi 17-21, 21-7, 21-12 in a 47-minute encounter in the BWF World Tour Super 750 event. The 23-year-old Clara, a resident of Madrid, Spain, and who is currently ranked 56th in the World Rankings, started superbly and caught up with Sindhu at 9-9 after the Indian had taken a slight lead from 2-2.

This was Taarini's second triple-triumph in Europe in the last few weeks. The 14-year-old Mumbai girl, who trains with Hufrish Nariman at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy at the Cricket Club of India (CCI), had claimed three crowns in FZ FORZA Finnish Youth 2021 Badminton Championship in Finland, last month. Taarini had bagged the Gir's' Under-15 singles title and the Girls' Doubles Under-17 and the Mixed Doubles Under-17 titles.

The season will commence in Chennai with the first tournament from December 16 to 22, followed by another Level 3 tournament in Hyderabad from December 24-30. Both events carry prize money of Rs 10 lakh each, and are part of the Badminton Association of India's (BAI) new domestic format, which was approved in 2019 but due to the pandemic, was not introduced earlier. BAI secretary Ajay Singhania said that the domestic season will begin with all Covid-related protocols in place, and it was mandatory for players to carry RTPCR negative reports.

Sindhu, the lone Indian in the fray on the penultimate day of the competition, got off to a good start as she won the first game but could not maintain the momentum as her Japanese opponent came back strongly to win the next two games and seal a place in the final. Sindhu lost 21-18, 16-21, 12-21 in the last-four stage encounter that lasted just over one hour.