India’s Sindhu eclipses Okuhara to win Korea Open title

India’s PV Sindhu won her third Super Series title beating Nozomi Okuhara 22-20, 11-21, 21-18 in the women’s singles final of the Korea Open in a thrilling encounter in Seoul on Sunday.

Sindhu, who had lost to Okuhara in an epic World Badminton Championships final three weeks back, was more aggressive and managed to prevail over the eighth seed in an encounter that lasted one hour and 24 minutes.

After Okuhara dominated the proceedings early on, Sindhu managed to save two game points and won the first game before being trounced by a 10-point margin in the second.

Sindhu, seeded fifth in the tournament, got her act together in the third and the final game to take the title, her second Super Series win this year after India Open.

She raised her arms in triumph at the end of the 83-minute thriller against her Japanese rival. It was en epic battle, that saw a 56-shot marathon in which the Indian prevailed.

The win helped Sindhu level the head-to-head stats against Okuhara 4-4. For the Japanese shuttlerhe defeat broke her 14-match winning streak.

Sindhu also became the first Indian player to win the Korea Open Super Series.