Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, April 30: Indian shuttler and two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu had to settle for bronze after losing to Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in three games on Saturday at the Badminton Asia Championships.
The 26-year-old started the match on an impressive note but was unable to keep the winning momentum going, eventually losing 21-13, 19-21, 16-21 to the top seed and world No. 2 Yamaguchi in the clash.
Sindhu had earlier claimed a bronze in the 2014 Gimcheon edition.
The Hyderabad shuttler won the first game easily in 16 minutes. In the second game, she was handed a point penalty for taking too much time between points, which led to an argument with the referee.
The argument led to a momentum shift as Yamaguchi levelled the scores to take the game into a decider. The Japanese shuttler found her rhythm and never let Sindhu be back in the game.
In the final game, Sindhu trailed from the beginning and in the end, Yamaguchi had five match points, which she converted.
However, the head-to-head between Sindhu and Yamaguchi is now 13-9 in Sindhu’s favour.