Olympian wang tzu

Hong Kong Open Super: Ace shuttler PV Sindhu suffered an early exit at the Hong Kong Open Super 500 after losing to Denmark’s Line Christophersen in a three-game thriller on Wednesday.

The two-time Olympic medallist, who had reached the World Championships quarterfinals last month, fell 21-15, 16-21, 19-21 in the round of 32. This was Sindhu’s first defeat in six meetings against European Championships silver medallist Christophersen and her sixth first-round exit on the BWF World Tour this year.

Sindhu began strongly, closing out the opening game with a dominant run from 14-13. But Christophersen bounced to snatch the second game. The decider turned into a tense battle, locked at 19-all, before the Dane held her nerve to clinch her first win over Sindhu.