Indian badminton star PV Sindhu's campaign at Spain Masters came to an end with a defeat to Supanida Katethong of Thailand in the women's singles quarterfinal round in Madrid on Friday, March 29.
Two-time Olympic medal winner Sindhu went down fighting against Katethong in three sets - 26-24, 17-21, 20-22 in a thrilling match that lasted for over an hour. In the final set, Sindhu and Katethong were involved in an intense battle and put on a good fight against each other to secure a win and qualify for the semifinal.
PV Sindhu was trailing 20-21 against Supanida Katethong in the final game and had an intense rally to level the score. However, the former World Champion lost the match after her return was struck at the net. Out of anguish and anger, Sindhu smashed her racquet and also received yellow card for breaking it. The video of the same went viral on social media.
It has been reported that PV Sindhu's coach Prakash Padukone left the court after the incident. In the opening game of the quarterfinal, PV Sindhu had to overcome tough challenge by Supanida Katethong to take an early lead. In the second game, Katethong bounced back and put on a good fight to take the contest into a decider.
In the final game, PV Sindhu took an early lead 11-9 but Katethong got the better of Indian star at the right time and took two consecutive points to take lead 16-13. The score was leveled at 20-20 after Sindhu won five successive points. However, at the end, Sindhu lost her battle after failing to win two crucial points.
PV Sindhu was the latest member in the Indian Contingent to exit from Spain Masters after women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponappa and Tanisha Crasto, men's doubles duo of Dhruv Kapila and Arjun MR. The mixed doubles pair of B Sumeeth and N Sikki Reddy entered the semifinals.
