Madrid Spain Masters : Sumeeth/ Sikki in mixed doubles Semifinals,Sindhu loses in quarter-finals

PV Sindhu [Photo : SNS]


B Sumeeth Reddy and N.Siki Reddy kept Indian hopes alive as they moved into the semifinals of the mixed doubles of the Madrid Spain Masters Badminton while PV Sindhu and Men and Women’s doubles pair crashed out.

Sumeeth and Siki after losing the first game came back strongly to win the next two games against Liya Ayu Kusumawati and Rehan Kusharjanto 14-21, 21-11,21-17 to emerge victorious .

In the battle for a place in the final they will take on Indonesia’s Rinov Rivaldy and Pitha Mentari

Earlier former world champion PV Sindhu put up a tremendous fight before going down to Thailand’s Supanida Katethong in the women’s singles quarter-finals

Sindhu, 11th in the badminton rankings, went down against her world No. 17 opponent 26-24, 17-21, 20-22 in a contest that lasted 77 minutes.

A win would have seen Sindhu make her first semi-final on the BWF World Tour since returning from injury earlier this month.

Katethong surged ahead with an 8-4 lead in the opening game. However, the Indian staged a comeback to win seven straight points and went into the break leading 11-8.

Few errors from Sindhu helped the Thai shuttler steal the momentum and establish a two-point advantage at 16-14.

Katethong was on the brink of winning the first game but Sindhu saved two game points to first equalise at 20-20 and then saved three more to eventually win the game which extended till the 50th point.

The second game, again, was a tight one. The scores were tied at 13-all when Katethong took a decisive lead with three straight points.

The Thai shuttler then thwarted a late comeback from Sindhu to take the match into the decider.

Sindhu had a healthy five-point opening at 10-5 in the decider. However, Katethong equalised at 12-all before seizing the initiative and opening up a 20-15 lead.

Sindhu mounted a late comeback to save five match points but eventually fell short of a place in the semi-finals after losing the next two points.

This was Sindhu’s fourth loss against Katethong in nine meetings. She had suffered an injury to her left knee in October last year while playing against Katethong and was sidelined for the next four months.

Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa, seeded third in the women’s doubles, lost 21-13, 21-19 against sixth seeds Lee Chia Hsin and Teng Chun Hsun of Chinese Taipei.

Another doubles pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila, meanwhile, went down fighting against Junaidi Arif and Yap Roy King of Malaysia and lost the quarter-final 19-21, 23-21, 17-21.