Friday, July 15, 2022, was not special for India in the Singapore Open Super 500 tournament. Saina Nehwal, the first Indian shuttler to win a medal at the Olympics, crashed out of the tournament after losing herself to a junior player. HS Prannoy, India’s only challenger in men’s singles, also lost in the quarterfinals. Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu had to sweat a lot in her victory against world number 19 Han Yui of China.
PV Sindhu entered the semi-finals after winning the women’s singles match that lasted over an hour. World No. 7 PV Sindhu won 17-21, 21-11, 21-19 after losing the first set against Han Yui. PV Sindhu reached the semi-finals for the first time since the Thailand Open in May 2022. PV Sindhu finished third in the Thailand Open from 17 to 22 May 2022.
PV Sindhu now has a 3-0 record against Han Yui. Now it remains to be seen whether she can win the title before the Birmingham Commonwealth Games. PV Sindhu will now face unseeded Saina Kawakami in the semi-finals. World No. 38 shuttler Saina Kawakami of Japan made a big upset by defeating sixth seed Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand 21-17, 21-19 in the quarterfinals.
Saina Nehwal lost 13-21, 21-15, 20-22 to world No. 30 shuttler Aya Ohori of Japan in the third quarterfinal of women’s singles. In a match that lasted one hour and three minutes, Saina Nehwal managed to take 5 game points, but Ohori scored the most points 7 times. World number 24 shuttler Saina Nehwal is more experienced than Aya Ohori.
India’s star shuttler HS Prannoy suffered an upset in the quarterfinals of the men’s singles. He lost to Kodai Naraoka of Japan 21-12, 14-21, 18-21. This match also lasted for one hour and three minutes.
The world ranking of Kodai Naraoka is 43 and that of HS Prannoy is 19. In men’s doubles, the Indian pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila suffered a 21-10, 18-21, 17-21 loss to Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan.