Bangkok
World champion PV Sindhu suffered a one-sided quarterfinal loss to the Thailand Open Super 1000 Badminton Tournament on Friday, while Sameer Verma lost in a challenging match. The Indian pair of Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa upset the Malaysian pair of Peng Soon Chan and Liu Ying Goh in the quarter-finals of the mixed doubles in a hard-fought three-game match.

The Olympic silver medalist Sindhu did not get a glimpse of the player who won the gold medal in the World Championship in 2019. She lost 13–21–9–21 to domestic favorites Ratchanok Intanon. In the men’s singles, Sameer suffered a close quarterfinal loss to third-ranked Anders Antonsen in the world rankings. The Danish player won 21–13, 19–21, 22–20.

The defeat of Sindhu and Sameer ended the Indian challenge in the singles category of the tournament. In the mixed doubles, the unseeded pair of Satwik and Ashwini won the match 18-21, 24-22, 22-20 after losing the first game against the world number six pair in an hour and 15 minutes. Confirmed. The Indian pair, ranked 22nd in the world rankings, will face top seed Dachapol Purvarpukroh and Sapasiri Teerthanchai of Thailand in the semi-finals.

Ratchanok had lost in the last three games against Sindhu. But he showed a very positive game and took a lead of three points in the beginning while Sindhu could not control the length. By the break of the first game, the Thailand player took a four-point lead. Sindhu equalized the score 13-13 in her comeback attempt after the break. But she could not maintain it for long and Ratchanok won eight consecutive points and put the first game without any trouble. In the second game too, there was no change, Sindhu was trailing 1-7 at one time and remained behind by seven points till the break.

After the break Ratchanok won the game easily after scoring 12 match points. At the same time in the men’s singles, Antonsen took a 5–0 lead in the opening game and Sameer was struggling with his length, which led to his shots going long and wide. Antonsen continued the good rhythm, leading by six points until the break. At the same time, Sameer could not confuse his opponent in a long rally and could not put any pressure on him. At the same time, he struggled with the shot, allowing Antonsen the first game from eight game points. In the second game too, Antonsen took a 5–1 lead but this time Sameer managed to bounce back with four consecutive points.

The Indian drew 7-7 with a superb cross-court net shot, after which he took the lead thanks to an opponent’s mistake. But by the break Antonsen had taken a one-point lead. But Sameer continued the effort to get a game point and then won the game by mistake from Antonsen. In the decisive game, the duo were at 5-5 at one point after which Sameer went 9-6 with some excellent shots. He led by three points until the break. Antonsen bounced back and equalized 13-13. Sameer made a mistake on the net twice. Here the game became quite exciting and continued till the 18-18 draw. Sameer was on par 19-19, winning video referrals. But in the end Antonsen won the match, scoring match points on a brilliant return.