Just two days after her loss in the India Open, PV Sindhu shouldered the mantle of leading the Indian team in the Badminton Asia Team Championship in Malaysia with aplomb as she first won her singles match and then teamed up with N Sikki Reddy to help India beat Hong Kong 3-2 in Group W opener.
Ruthvika Shivani Gadde bagged the third point for the Indians by beating Yeung Sum Yee in the final match 21-15, 15-21, 21-14 to raise India’s hopes of making it to the knock-out stage from this three team group. Japan in the third team in the group.
Earlier, Sindhu gave India the winning startm hammering Yip Pui Yin 21-12, 21-18 win in just 33 minutes.
India decided to split their best doubles combination of Ashwini Ponnappa and Reddy to improve their chances of winning. Ponnappa, who teamed up with Prajakta Sawant, fought hard in the first two games before going down 22-20, 20-22, 10-21 against NG Wing Yung and Yeung Nga Ting.
Sindhu and Reddy were then under pressure after Sri Krishna Priya lost the second singles and the scratch combination had to win to stay in the hunt. And the pair did enough to beat NG Tsu Yau and Yuen Sin Ying 21-15, 15-21, 21-14 to set up a tense finale.
In the last match, Ruthvika struggled for rhythm in the opening game but kept her cool against an opponent ranked much lower than her.
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