BWF World Tour Finals: PV Sindhu wins, Srikanth loses in third round of group fixtures

The Indian shuttlers played their last matches of the group stages on Friday.

Kidambi Srikanth and PV Sindhu represented India at the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2020 in Thailand. On the third day of the competition, the duo gave better performances but had mixed results. 

While Kidambi Srikanth succumbed to a defeat at the hands of World No. 8 Angus K.L. NG by 21-12, 18-21, 19-21, PV Sindhu secured a comfortable victory against World No. 13 Pornpawee Chochuwong by 21-18, 21-15.

World No. 14 Kidambi Srikanth was up against  Hong Kong’s Angus K.L. NG. The match lasted an hour and five minutes which saw Srikanth lose yet again. This was his third consecutive game in the tournament which stretched into three games and was more than an hour long. 

The former World No. 1 started the match well, led on the first interval by 11-8 and secured it by 21-12. At the point, it looked like the Indian would finally win his first game of the tournament. However, his opponent had other ideas.

Angus found his rhythm in the second, which was closely fought with nothing to separate the two. He led at the interval by 11-10 and marginally outplayed the Indian to secure the second by a score of 21-18.

The deciding third game saw both players giving their all, and the accumulated fatigue from last matches was clearly having a negative effect on Srikanth. Despite the mental and physical demands of the match, he gave a good fight to his opponent, but to no avail.

Angus emerged the winner as he secured the third by 21-19, and handed Srikanth his third defeat of the tournament, which kept him at the bottom of Group B in the men’s singles action, thereby ending his run at the BWF World Tour Finals 2020. 

World No. 5 PV Sindhu on the other hand gave the fans something to cheer about. She played with a lot of confidence and belief against Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong. The reigning World Champion made short work of her opponent and secured the tie in straight games.

Sindhu led at both intervals and her attacking gameplay was at its peak. The match lasted merely 42 minutes. Chochuwong had won both her previous matches before facing Sindhu, but had no answer to the Indian’s powerful gameplay.  However, Sindhu’s run at the tournament also came to an end as she missed out on a place in the semi-finals after finishing at the bottom of Group B in women’s singles draw.

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