Badminton Asia Championships 2023: PV Sindhu fails An Se Young test again, HS Prannoy ousted in quarters

Indian badminton stars' poor run in singles at major tournaments in 2023 continued as their campaign came to an end as early as the quarter-final of the Badminton Asia Championships 2023. PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy exited the continental tournament after disappointing shows in Dubai on Friday, April 28.

8th seed PV Sindhu was shown the door in the quarter-final in the women's singles quarter-final that lasted 58 minutes. She failed to pass the An Se Young test once again as the South Korean shuttler came back from a game down to beat the Indian in a straightforward manner. Sindhu lost 21-18, 5-21, 9-21 as she fell off the radar after winning the opening game.

It was the first time Sindhu had won a game against the South Korean superstar but she was not able to carry forward the momentum. Sindhu has faced An Se Young 6 times and lost all the contests on the BWF tour so far.

Sindhu showed signs of improvement when she defeated



World No. 9 Han Yue of China in straight games in the second game. But her progress was dented by her familiar foe An on Friday.

Sindhu reached the Madrid Spain Masters final in what has been an otherwise disappointing year in 2023 for the 2-time Olympic medalist (8-6 in this year).

On the other hand, HS Prannoy, one of the most improved players over the last few seasons, retired midway during his 2nd game in the quarter-final against Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan. It remains to be seen if the 8th-seeded Indian picked up an injury concern during the quarter-final as he trailed 11-21, 9-13 when he ended the game.

Earlier in the day, the mixed doubles pairing of Rohan Kapoor and N Sikki Reddy lost to Dejan Ferdinansyah and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja in the quarter-final 18-21 21-19 15-21.

India's singles stars had a disappointing run as the likes of Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth were shown the door early.