[Saba Sports News] After failing to reach the quarterfinals of the China Open, Indian badminton star Pusarla Venkata Sindhu took to social media to voice doubts over the tournament scheduling. Earlier, Sindhu posted: “I only get around 16 hours of rest before my match, while my dear friend Chen Yufei will have more than 24 hours to recover. Great to see recovery being valued as it should be. It is interesting how scheduling always manages to account for rest. I just hope they treat everyone equally.” Sindhu squandered four match points against Chen Yufei and eventually lost the encounter 1-2 to exit the competition. According to the fixture list, Chen Yufei’s opening match kicked off at 10:30 on July 21, while Sindhu’s first-round fixture started at 16:30 on July 22. Their head-to-head clash was scheduled for 09:50 on July 23. Although the timetable worked against Sindhu, fitness was not the primary cause of her defeat. Instead, she consecutively threw away four match points late in the second game.
Under the tournament rules, matches from the upper half of the draw are scheduled to kick off first, meaning Sindhu was originally due to compete on the opening day. However, tournament organisers moved her fixture to the second day out of health concerns, as she had contested the final at the preceding Japan Open. In addition, Chen Yufei withdrew from the Japan Open, while Sindhu competed all the way to the title decider. Under such circumstances, Chen Yufei was inevitably set to enjoy longer rest time than Sindhu. Of course, if Sindhu had been eliminated earlier at the previous tournament, both athletes could have played their first-round ties on day one.