Japan Open: PV Sindhu loses to fierce rival Nozomi Okuhara in second round
This leaves Saina Nehwal as India's only hope in the tournament.
The see-saw of win and lose continues between fierce rivals PV Sindhu and Nozomi Okuhara as the local favourite defeated Indian ace in the second round match of Japan Open on Thursday.
Okuhara defeated Sindhu with a massive margin in the second set with the final score of 21-18, 21-8, in Tokyo. This also improved Okuhara's lead in the head-to-head count by 5-4.
During the match, Okuhara didn't give any chance to Sindhu to play net shots and often banked on her defence when Sindhu was on the attack, reports Firstpost.
Sindhu had recently defeated Okuhara in the final of Korea Open in Seoul to confirm her number two ranking in the world.
The silver lining to the defeat was Sindhu climbed back on the number two spot in world rankings with 81106 points in her kitty.
Now Saina Nehwal remains India's only hope.