Srikanth, Sindhu suffer second defeat in row

Bangkok: Star Indian shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and PV Sindhu suffered contrasting defeats in their respective second group 'B' matches at the BWF World Tour Finals here on Thursday.

While Kidambi lost 21-19, 9-21, 19-21 to Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei, Sindhu suffered a 18-21, 13-21 loss to Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon.

Srikanth, who is making his fourth appearance at the season finale, will next face Thailand's Angus Ng Ka Long while Sindhu will lock horns with another local Pornpawee Chochuwong in their last group stage encounters on Friday.

In the men's singles event, Srikanth showed great skills in the opening game and dominated the proceedings till the end against his fourth-seed opponent to seal it 21-19 in 23 minutes.

However, Tzu Wei came back strongly in the second game and registered a 11-5 lead at the interval. He extended the lead to 16-7 before Srikanth came back to score two points to reduce the deficit to 16-9. But the fourth seed then won five straight points to seal the game 21-9 in 19 minutes to force the match into the decider.

In the third game again, Srikanth started off brilliantly but wasn't able to hold on as he conceded a 11-10 lead at the mid-game break. Tzu Wei, however, kept his composure and despite losing three consecutive points towards the end, he won the game 21-19.

In the women's singles event, Sindhu was never in the match as she lost in straight games against Intanon.

Sindhu, showed some fight in the opening game but wasn't able to control as she lost the opening game 18-21 to Intanon, who had defeated her last week in a lop-sided Thailand Open quarter-final clash. Intanon then came out with a even better performance in the second game to seal it 21-13 and registered a comfortable win in the match which lasted just 43 minutes.

Both Srikanth and Sindhu had lost their tournament openers on Wednesday. While Srikanth had lost 21-15, 15-21, 18-21 to Denmark's Anders Antonsen, Sindhu - the reigning world champion - had suffered a 21-19, 12-21, 17-21 loss to world number one Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei.