BWF World Tour Finals: PV Sindhu loses to South Korea’s An Seyoung in final, bags silver

It was the two-time Olympic medallist’s third successive loss to the world number six. (File/Reuters)

Badminton ace PV Sindhu bagged a silver medal after losing to South Korean shuttler An Seyoung at the summit clash of the BWF World Tour Finals in Bali today.

The reigning world champion could not match the pace or breach the defence of the Korean teen sensation, losing 16-21 12-21. It was the two-time Olympic medallist’s third successive loss to the world number six.

The victory means Seyoung became the first Korean woman to win the season-ending title. Speaking to Press Trust of India, the world number seven said Seyoung is a good player and she didn’t think it was going to be easy. She added that she should not have given the Korean the lead from the beginning because in the end she came back covering a few points.

“It has been a good three weeks in Bali,” Sindhu said, adding that she was taking a lot of positives. She will now recover and prepare for the world championships.

Seyoung looked polished at the nets and produced full stretch diving saves with her swift movement to blunt Sindhu’s game plan.

Sindhu began on the backfoot and was left to fight a tough battle after going down 0-4.

While the second game began on a much equal footing with Sindhu even taking a 5-4 lead, the Korean quickly took back the lead.

Seyoung continued to control the proceedings after the interval as she galloped to a 15-8 lead. She soon grabbed a whopping 10 match points. Sindhu managed to save two before sending one to the net to hand the young star the victory and the title.

Sindhu, however, will have little time to digest the loss as she travels to Huelva in Spain to defend her title at the BWF World Championships from December 12.