India Open: PV Sindhu ousted in semis; Lakshya Sen to face Loh Kean Yew in final

Twotime Olympic medallist PV Sindhu crashed out of the Yonex Sunrise India Open 2022 losing to Thailands Supanida Katethong the sixth seed in the womens singles semifinalsSindhu tried to fight back after losing the first game and took the match to the decider but her Thai opponent was too aggressive and did not allow the top seed any chances Sindhu struggled to find her length on Saturday and lost the match 1421 2113 1021 in 59 minutes in the seasonopenerIndian badminton fans however have a lot to look forward to on Sunday as young Lakshya Sen in mens singles and the mens doubles combine of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty reached their respective finals Lakshya defeated Malaysias Tze Yong Ng 1921 2116 2112 while Satwik and Chirag got the better of the French combine of Fabien Delrue and William Villeger in straight games 2110 2118 on SaturdayIn the other womens singles match young Indian shuttler Aakarshi Kashyap went down to second seed Busanan Ongbamrungphan of Thailand 2426 921 in a hardfought 52minute encounter The womens singles final will thus be an allThailand affair with Busanan taking on compatriot SupanidaIn the womens singles semifinal Sindhu found the going tough as her opponent from Thailand started aggressively and never allowed the pace to slacken Supanida took control of the first game soon after the initial exchanges to take a 71 lead and maintained a steady lead not allowing Sindhu who struggled to get a rhythm going to narrow the gapThe second game was closelyfought with the Thai player catching up with Sindhu at 66 and 1010 before the Indian claimed six consecutive points from 1412 to win the game 2113However Supanida turned the tables on Sindhu in the decider and opened up a lead from 55 onwards to go on and win the third game 2110Sindhu said the match turned against her at 66 in the decider when she had a chance of taking the lead but could notIn the third set from the beginning it was almost 6all over there I left the lead After that I should have taken a few points but she controlled things She is a good player and earlier I have played against her in Bali Indonesia Open 2021 and she is very good her strokes are very deceptive Overall I should have controlled the shuttle more thats what I felt said SindhuSindhu said she tried to hit the corners but unlike in their match in Indonesia she could not execute the strokes properly on Saturday and the shuttle would either fall outside the court or situp midcourt giving her Thai opponent a chance to take control of the ralliesIndias hopes of winning the title at home now rest on Lakshya Sen and the doubles pair of Satwik and Chirag as they will figure in the finals on SundayLakshya Sen reached the mens singles final coming back from a game down to beat Malaysias Tze Yong Ng and set up a clash with World Champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the summit clash This is Sens maiden entry in the final of a BWF World Tour Super 500 eventThe top Indian doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also booked a place in the final beating the French combine of Fabien Delrue and William Villeger in straight games 2110 2118 on SaturdayIn the mens doubles final of the USD 400000 event RankireddyShetty will meet topseeded Indonesian pair Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan who reached the summit clash by beating Malaysias Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi 2118 2118In the mens singles semifinal against Tze Yong Ng third seed Sen lost a close first game 1921 in the semifinal but came back strongly to win the next two games 2116 2112 to emerge victorious in just over one hour at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall hereIn the first game Sen came back from 14 down to level scores at 44 before opening up a small lead at 107It was an upanddown affair as Yong fought back to level scores at 1414 and though Sen again caught up with his rival at 17all the Malaysian capitalised on some errors by the Indian shuttler and won the first gameThe second game was a close affair initially as the lead changed hands repeatedly before Sen took control of the proceedings after 1212 and went on to win the game at 2116In the decider the Indian took an early lead and cruised to victory always maintaining an upper hand as his Canadian rival wilted under pressureThe first game was pretty close and I made a few errors and that cost me the first game But I managed to keep my calm and managed to pull off a win Sen said in the postmatch comments provided by the organisersIn the final Sen will meet reigning World Champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore who progressed when his opponent Brian Yang of Canada pulled out complaining of sore throat and headache Yang had tested negative in the mandatory Covid test but still decided to withdraw from the eventYangs withdrawal came soon after two players a Russian mixed doubles pair had to pull out in the morning when one of them tested positive for Covid19 The player returned a positive result to a mandatory RTPCR test conducted on 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