Star Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth fought their hearts out before suffering close defeats in their respective group B openers at the USD 1.5 million HSBC BWF World Tour Finals in Bangkok on Wednesday.
A week after a demoralising defeat at the Toyota Thailand Open quarter-finals, World champion Sindhu produced a much-improved performance but still lost to world number one Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan 21-19, 12-21, 17-21
“It was a good match, there were no easy points. In the third game I came back and it was just one point difference at one stage. I broke my racket strings twice (during rallies) and that made a difference,” Sindhu said.
“It’s a tough group. I have to give 100 per cent.”
It was Sindhu’s 16th defeat to Tzu Ying in 21 meetings.
Former world number one Srikanth too squandered an opening game advantage, losing 21-15 16-21 18-21 to world number three Anders Antonsen of Denmark in a gruelling 77-minute contest.
Olympic silver medallist Sindhu,…