WORLD TOUR FINALS: CONSOLATION WIN FOR SINDHU, SRIKANTH LOSES

Reigning badminton world champion P.V. Sindhu ended her campaign at the BWF World Tour Finals with a consolation win on Friday, but Kidambi Srikanth, the only other Indian to have qualified for the competition, ended at the bottom of his group with a third consecutive defeat and crashed out.

Sindhu, after losing her first two Group B matches, scored a 21-18, 21-15 win over Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong, when she was already out of running for a spot in the semi-finals having lost her both matches.

Srikanth, a former world number one, lost to Hong Kong’s Angus Ng Ka Long 21-12, 18-21, 19-21.

Sindhu’s match was a dead rubber as Chochuwong had already booked a place in the semi-finals. With one point in three games, Sindhu finished last in her group behind Chochuwong, Thai Ratchanok Intanon and Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying.

In a match that lasted 42 minutes, Sindhu held off late fightbacks from Chochuwong in both games to seal the win.

Srikanth also ended his campaign on Friday at the bottom of Group B. Unlike Sindhu, however, he finished with zero points from three games, and finished at the bottom of the table behind Chinese Taipei’s Wang Tzu Wei, Denmark’s Anders Antonsen and Angus Ng.

Srikanth, who is yet to seal a Tokyo Olympics berth, won the opening game rather comfortably with a 21-12 margin in just 14 minutes.

However, the Indian made forced errors in the second game as Long first took a 11-9 lead at the interval and then went on to take the game 21-18 in 22 minutes to take the match into the decider.

In the final game, both shuttlers progressed neck and neck. But towards the end it was the world number eight who kept his composure and sealed the game 21-19 in next 29 minutes to register a brilliant comeback victory.