World champion P V Sindhu was on Friday ousted from the All England Championship after being outplayed by a determined Nozomi Okuhara of Japan, who rallied her way to a thrilling three-game win in the quarterfinal of the women’s singles here.
The 24-year-old Indian squandered a sparkling start as Okuhara produced a rearguard action to outwit Sindhu 12-21, 21-15, 21-13 in a 68-minute last eight encounter at the Arena Birmimgham.
Sindhu’s defeat ended India’s campaign at the Super 1000 tournament.
Sindhu had come into the match with a 9-7 head-to-head record against Okuhara, having demolished the Japanese in the finals of the 2019 World Championships.
On Thursday night, Indian women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy bowed out after suffering a straight-game loss in the second round.
World No 29 Ashwini and Sikki lost 13-21, 14-21 to seventh seed Japanese combination of Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi in a match that lasted 38 minutes.
For Ashwini and Sikki, it was their eighth successive defeat against the Japanese combination.