Early exits for Sindhu, Prannoy at French Open

Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu suffered another second round defeat when she went down fighting against He Bingjiao of China in the women's singles competition at the $300,000 French Open Super Series badminton tournament in Paris on Friday.

China’s Bingjiao avenged her Denmark Open defeat against the sixth seeded Sindhu, as the Olympic silver medallist lost 20-22, 17-21 in a 41-minute match.

Sindhu blew away a 12-8 and 20-18 lead in the opening game as Bingjiao kept breathing down her neck and sealed it after reeling off four straight points.

In the second game, Bingjiao gave Sindhu no a chance of a comeback as she romped to a 11-6 lead at the break and then surged to a 18-9 lead. Sindhu tried her bit and narrowed down the gap to 17-19 before the Chinese shut the door on the Indian.

In the men's singles, India's H S Prannoy also lost in the second round going down 19-21, 16-21 to fifth seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei in a match that lasted 42 minutes.

Prannoy was ahead at one stage of the first game but faltered at the final stages to allow Chou pocket the opening game.

In the second game, Chou came out all confident and opened up a 9-4 lead. Prannoy did well to catch at 14-14, but the Taiwanese regained the lead and took home the match without wasting too much time.

Image: PV Sindhu

Photograph: Nils Meilvang/Reuters