French Open: PV Sindhu remains only Indian in fray, reaches semis

The shuttler continued her good run of form in the competition.

The ongoing French Open 2021, being held in Paris, is reaching its business end. Over the past three days, the Indian badminton contingent put forth a valiant effort while coming up against tough opposition. The fourth day of the tournament also saw many Indians clash against their opponents for entry into the latter stages. 

As it happens, only one shuttler remains in the tournament and that is PV Sindhu. The World No.7 won her quarter-final clash at the French Open against a tough opponent in Busanan Ongbamrungphan. PV Sindhu overcame the challenge posed by Busanan in straight games by a 21-14, 21-14 scoreline. The two-time Olympic medalist was in fabulous form against the eighth seed and secured victory within 38 minutes.

PV Sindhu barely broke a sweat in the initial stages of the first game, running to a 11-6 lead. She maintained her advantage and secured the first game by 21-14. Busanan tried to claw her way back into the match in the second game. After a quick exchange of points, Sindhu again got the upper hand and had a 11-8 lead at the break. From that point, it was one-way traffic as Sindhu raced to a 21-14 second game win, thus winning the match in the process.

The Indian shuttler will now face Sayaka Takahashi of Japan who caused an upset herself. She defeated second seed Ratchanok Intanon by a 21-6, 21-16 scoreline to progress into the semi-finals of the French Open. 

Rest of the Indians crash out

Lakshya Sen was playing in the quarter-final of the men’s singles bracket. He was fairly impressive in the French Open up until the moment he came up against Heo Kwang-hee of South Korea. The Korean shuttler was too strong for the Indian and emerged as the winner by 21-17, 21-15. This meant the end of the Indian men’s challenge at the tournament.

The notable Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty gave a good account of themselves, but suffered a close defeat. The fifth seed Indians lost their quarter-final clash to fourth seed opponents from Malaysia. Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik made their way into the semi-final of the men’s doubles category with a 18-21, 21-18, 21-17 victory.

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