Indian badminton star, PV Sindhu suffered a shock defeat in the ongoing Japan 2018 against Gao Fangjie of China in the Round of 16 match. Third seed Sindhu struggled throughout the match as he was outplayed 18-21, 19-21 by the 19-year-old Chinese opponent. This was Gao Fangjie’s second consecutive win over Sindhu in as many matches. Gao Fangjie took an early lead in the contest. However, the Indian managed to draw level 13-13 in the opening game from 2-8 down.

Sindhu, in fact, took the lead in the first game, but Gao Fangjie held her nerves towards the end and collected some valuable points to win the first game 21-18. In a must-win second game, Sindhu started on a. Positive note and managed to earn a 4-0 lead.

Despite the momentum on her side, Sindhu, gave up the lead as Gao Fangjie levelled seven each in the second game. The Chinese badminton player then took the lead and never looked back. She did not allow Sindhu to settle and marched towards the victory with a 21-19 score in the second game.

Earlier, Sindhu defeated Japan’s Sayaka Takahashi in the opening round 21-17, 7-21, 21-13. The win wasn’t convincing one for Sindhu and she had to fight hard. Fangjie Gao, on the other hand, defeated Indian Jakka Vaishnavi Reddy 21-10 21-8, to make it to the second round.

Sindhu was expected to make it to the finals of Japan Open 2018 after she won the historic silver medal at the recently concluded Asian Games 2018. Earlier, this year, Sindhu also won silver medals in the Commonwealth Games and the World Championship.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 13, 2018 01:05 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).