It was a mixed day for the two Indian shuttlers on the opening day of BWF World Tour finals 2018played at Gunghazou, China on Wednesday. PV Sindhu defeated the higher ranked Akane Yamguchi in Group A while Sameer Verma lost to Japan Kento Momota in Group B match.
PV Sindhu defeated Akane Yamaguchi in two straight games. The 2 time World Championship silver medallist PV Sindhu began the first game on a positive, taking a 3-1 lead before Yamaguchi levelled the scores at 3-3.
Yamaguchi played aggressive badminton and put pressure on PV Sindhu. At the interval, Yamaguchi led 11-6. After the interval, it was a neck to neck game with Sindhu trying her best to come back into the game.
Yamaguchi led 17-13 and then Sindhu showed great courage to level the scores at 19-19. It was a neck to neck battle between these players after 19-19. Sindhu held her nerves and won the first set 24-22.
In the second game also, PV Sindhu had a decent start taking a 3-1 lead. The Japanese showed great fight playing aggressive badminton to take a 7-5 lead. Both players featured in long rallies and took alternate points. Yamaguchi had a slender lead of 11-10. After the interval, PV Sindhu played aggressive badminton and won the second set 21-15.
She will play Tai Tzu Ying in the second Group match tomorrow.
Sameer Verma lost to Japan Kento Momota in two straight games. Kento Momota showed great badminton skills and did not allow Sameer Verma to play his natural game. At the interval, Momota led 11-4. After the interval, Momota continued his aggressive style of play. Sameer Verma took 4 successive points before Momota won the first set 21-18.
It was a one-sided affair in the second game as Kento Momota completed dominated the Indian player. The Japanese was aggressive and led 11-2 at the interval. After the interval, Momota continued his style of play and won the second set 21-6.
