Birmingham, Mar 18:
Olympic silver medallist shuttler P V Sindhu lost an epic semifinal against World No. 2 Japanese Akane Yamaguchi to bow out of the USD 1000,000 All England Championship here.
Sindhu failed to build on a handsome lead in the decider to go down 21-19 19-21 18-21 to Yamaguchi after battling for an hour and 19 minutes last night. This was the ninth victory on the trot for the 20-year-old Japanese, who had won the German Open early this month.
In scenes similar to the one that went down to the wire in the summit clash of last year’s Dubai Super Series Final, both Sindhu and Yamaguchi threw themselves for everything on the court, traversing diagonally again and again during a series of punishing rallies, which defined the edge-of-the-seat thriller.
However, in the end it was Yamaguchi, who showed better nerves to walk away with the match and book a place at the final against World No. 1 Taiwanese Tai Tzu Ying at the Arena Birmingham here. (PTI)
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