Sindhu, Sameer beaten in Hong Kong Open final

Rio Olympics silver medallist P.V. Sindhu and upcoming shuttle talent Sameer Verma were beaten in their respective finals of the Hong Kong Open tournament here on Sunday.

India's star women shuttler Sindhu lost to Tai Tzu-Ying of Chinese Taipei 15-21, 17-21 in 41 minutes.

Verma, in his maiden Superseries final, lost to local Ng Ka Long Angus 14-21, 21-10, 11-21 at the Hong Kong Coliseum - one in a 50-minute battle.

Verma defeated third ranked Dane Jan O Jorgensen in the semi-final.

This was Sindhu's third appearance in a Superseries summit clash. She lost the 2015 Denmark Open final, then claimed the 2016 China Open crown just a week ago.

Tzu-Ying, the fourth seed who has beaten World No.1 Carolina Marin twice in two weeks, dominated the proceedings right from the start.

Sindhu, who is in her prime form after winning silver in Rio Olympics, bounced back in style to make it 8-8. But soon Ying went on a roll to win the next seven consecutive points to reach 15-8.

And from then onwards, Sindhu couldn't find her feet, the Hyderabadi relinquishing the first game 15-21.

In the second, World No.9 Sindhu regained her composure and changed her strategy to overpower the Chinese Taipei shuttler.

But Ting used her cross-court smashes and sliced drops to maximum effect to prevail over the Indian.

In the last few points of the match, Sindhu put up a tough fight but it wasn't enough. She failed to match the pace of her opponent and lost the the second game 17-21.

--IANS

sam/mr