Indian badminton star PV Sindhu has been knocked out of the Thailand Open 2021 after losing her first-round match against Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt. The 25-year-old started off well by winning the opening round 21-16, but she lost momentum after that, and the Danish shuttler didn’t miss the opportunity. Blichfeldt won the thrilling second set 24-26, and the game advanced to the final round. While the competition was neck-to-neck in the first two rounds, Blichfeldt was dominant is the decider as she won the final round 13-21, kicking Sindhu out of the competition. Saina Nehwal Confused Over Her COVID-19 Positive Result During Thailand Open 2021.

Notably, Sindhu was the only female Indian player to participate in the single’s event as Saina Nehwal had to withdraw from the tournament due to her positive COVID-19 test. Earlier, Indian mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa kicked off the Thailand Open with a scintillating win over Indonesia’s Hafiz Faizal and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja. Satwiksairaj and Ashwini stunned the sixth-seeded opponents 21-11, 27-29, 21-16 in the opening round of the showpiece event.

At the same time, Saina Nehwal and HS Prannoy had to pull out of the competition after testing positive for coronavirus. Also, Saina’s husband Parupalli Kashyap has been forced to withdraw from the event due to his close proximity with his wife. Although his reports are yet to come, the organizers are not willing to take any risk.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 12, 2021 02:42 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).