Odense: Thursday was a day of upsets at the ongoing Denmark Open in Odense. To top off the day that filled with shocking results, India’s Olympic women’s doubles silver medalist shuttler P.V. Sindhu was knocked out by Japan’s Sayaka Sato 13-21, 23-21, 18-21 in the second round of the tournament.
The No. 6 seed Indian shuttler was fighting hard trying to get back to the match but the unseeded Sato managed to put on a relentless display to overwhelm Sindhu. Sato will play Cheung Ngan Yi of Hong Kong next.
The upsets continued later in the day when Olympic mixed doubles gold medalists and No. 2 seeds Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir were overpowered by Wang Yilyu/Huang Dongping of China in 64 minutes, losing to their unseeded Chinese opponents 18-21, 21-19, 17-21.
Lastly, the day of surprises ended with the biggest shock of the day, as the World No. 22 and Korean veteran Lee Hyun Il ousted the Olympic bronze medalist and World No. 4 Viktor Axelsen 7-21, 21-13, 21-14 in 51 minutes.
