New Delhi [India], January 17 : After conceding a defeat in the quarterfinal round at the ongoing India Open 2025, top shuttler PV Sindhu pledged to come back stronger.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stayed on course for their second consecutive India Open final with a straight games win over Korea's Yong Jin and Kang Min Hyuk in the men's doubles quarterfinals while PV Sindhu and Kiran George were knocked out of the BWF World Tour Super 750 event at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall on Friday.
Speaking to the reporters, PV Sindhu said that it was a sad moment for her to lose the game after fighting till the third set.
"Overall I feel it was anybody's game...It is sad that I lost in the third set after fighting so hard... I have to come back stronger...It is disappointing," Sindhu told reporters.
There were a lot of positives to take home for Sindhu. The 29-year-old, who had been struggling with injuries since the Paris Olympics, struggled with her movement in the opening game but took the fight to her opponent once she found her range.
Trailing 3-9 in the second game, Sindhu began pushing Tunjung to the back of the court thereby nullifying the sharpness of Indonesia's quick slice drops and keeping the shuttle long enough in play to force an error from her opponent.
She caught up with Tunjung at 9-9 and though both the players stayed neck-and-neck thereafter, Sindhu managed to take the match into a decider by forcing the fourth seed into taking more risks to try and win points.
The former champion continued with the same strategy in the decider and it looked like she could script an upset with both players locked at 17-17. Some brilliant stroke play from Tunjung and a wrong judgement from Sindhu ended up deciding the fate of the match which lasted an hour and two minutes.
Speaking to the reporters, Chirag Shetty said that he and his partner Satwiksairaj went all guns blazing in the game on Friday. Chirag added that they put pressure on the opponents.
"We went all guns blazing. In the end, they (opponents) were able to defend the shots...We never really wanted them to get back in the game...Our strongest point was to put them under pressure...," Chirag Shetty told reporters.
Speaking to the reporters, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy said that they were always in control of the match.
"We knew that if we continue to put pressure on them, they will not be able to sustain...We were always in control of the match...We were very positive from the start of the match...," Satwiksairaj told reporters.
It was the pairing of Satwik and Chirag that gave the sizeable crowd at the KD Jadhav Hall enough reasons to celebrate as they played a near-clinical match against the Koreans, who had upset the top seeds and world no. 1 Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in the opening round.
The Asian Games gold medallists raced to a 9-1 lead in the opening game and then controlled the proceedings to pocket the game in 18 minutes. The Koreas did put up a stronger fight in the second game the Indians were hardly under any pressure.
In the semi-final, they will face third seeds Sze Fei Goh and Nur Izzuddin of Indonesia.
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