I'm not too far away: Sindhu after fighting defeat; Satwik-Chirag win
The last time PV Sindhu beat a top-10 ranked rival in the BWF circuit was October last year. Needless to say, the shuttler has predominantly struggled to replicate that kind of touch since then. On Thursday, Sindhu, displaying shades of her well-known fighting prowess, was in sight of repeating that feat but she agonisingly missed out. On the other hand, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty had to put up a fight before securing a win.
Up against Pornpawee Chochuwong, a World No 8 from Thailand, in the ongoing Indonesia Open, Sindhu fought tooth and nail to be in contention until the closing stages of the marathon match that lasted 78 minutes. However, Pornpawee, the India Open runner-up, held her nerves to walk away with victory. The eventual score read 20-22, 21-10, 21-18 in the 27-year-old's favour. It was yet another setback for Sindhu. However, the double Olympic medallist is encouraged by her latest effort. "A lot to learn from this match and this tournament as well and prepare for the next event," she said after the match.
"Having a new coach, it took some time to come together and accordingly work together...when you get a new coach, sometimes it takes time. Both need to understand each other. Things are going well and of course, there's a lot of scope to improve. I think we are on the right track," she noted.
Sindhu, who has four first-round exits this year, has struggled against to find any sort of rhythm this year. Given her current predicament, the last few days have been slightly better for the 29-year-old. She had beaten Nozomi Okuhara in the opening round. Just a few days ago, she had stretched China's Yue Fie, the 2020 Olympic champ and current World No 5, before losing in three games during the Singapore Open. "Playing like this, I'm positive that I'm not that far away (from big wins). But it's just one tournament at a time for me and it's also important to go back and learn from the mistakes because every tournament is new. I think it's not too far away," she assessed.
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