P.V. Sindhu and K. Srikanth are virtually out of contention for the knockout stage after losing their second-round matches in the BWF World Tour Finals on Thursday.
A week ago Sindhu had suffered a demoralising defeat to Ratchanok Intanon and there was no change of luck this time too as she lost 21-18, 21-13 to the third-seeded Thai.
“It wasn’t my day. Losing the first game made the difference. My timing was a bit off,” Sindhu said.
Srikanth enjoyed a 3-0 head-to-head against Wang Tzu Wei ahead of the match but it mattered little as the Taiwanese World No. 12 rallied to a 19-21, 21-9, 21-19 win.
“I have to figure out a way to pull out these close matches. I was dominating him for most part of the third game,” Srikanth said after losing yet another three-game contest.
“I think it’s about match practice, playing against top players continuously. We haven’t played for a year, and before that I wasn’t playing against top eight players continuously. I feel I’m almost there,” he added.
With only the top two players from each group making it to the semifinals, the twin defeat has almost sealed the fate of the Indian duo.
