Guangzhou, Dec 12:
Olympic silver medallist shuttler PV Sindhu eked out a hard-fought win over world number two and defending champion Akane Yamaguchi in the opening women’s singles group A match of the World Tour Finals, here Wednesday.
Sindhu, who had finished runner-up at the last edition in Dubai, dished out a superb game, mixed with patience and aggression, to defeat the Japanese 24-22 21-15.
However, Sameer Verma, who is the second Indian men’s player after Kidambi Srikanth to qualify for the tournament, couldn’t adjust to the pace of world no 1 and world champion Kento Momota, going down 18-21 6-21 in the opening group match.
Sameer, who defended his title at the Syed Modi International to qualify for the USD 1,500,000 event, will have to beat Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen and Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto in the other group B matches to salavge hopes of qualifying for the knockout stage.
Making her third successive appearance at the tournament, Sindhu, who had a 9-4 head-to-head record against Yamaguchi, produced a controlled game in the slow conditions, never letting go despite lagging behind many times in the match. (PTI)
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