With her chances of progressing to the semi-finals all but over, PV Sindhu will hope to end her BWF World Tour Finals 2019 campaign on a high with a win that has eluded her so far in Guangzhou, China this week.
The trend has been very similar in the two matches she lost, to former champion Akane Yamaguchi and reigning All England Open champion Chen Yufei, at this tournament. The defending champion showed oodles of confidence in bagging a highly competitive opening game but lost her way after that. The deciders have been pretty one-sided with the Indian struggling to put up any kind of resistance.
It has definitely not been the kind of title defence the 2018 champion would have envisaged but she will try her best to go out with one last hurrah in her final Group A encounter against He Bingjiao.
The World No. 7 isn't exactly the kind of opponent the world champion enjoys playing against, which is validated by her poor 5-9 record against the Chinese.
Not only that, what is even more worrying is that the Rio Olympic silver medallist last beat Bingjiao in 2017, losing their next four matches since then. Only once has been able to take a game off the Chinese ace in those four meetings.
It is a very tough proposition for Sindhu but one can't count her out. If she can maintain the kind of tempo she showed at the beginning of her last two matches in Guangzhou and not lose her grip on proceedings, she can definitely stay in the hunt for a win. Moreover, Sindhu will also be able to play freely today and will be eager to finish her 2019 season on a winning note.
Here is all you need to know about
the BWF World Tour Finals 2019 Schedule
Tournament: 2019 BWF World Tour Finals
Category: World Tour Finals
Prize Money: US$1,500,000
Venue: Tianhe Gymnasium, Tianhe, Guangzhou, China
Dates: December 11 - December 15, 2019
Match schedule: Group A - He Bingjiao vs PV Sindhu expected to be approx at 5:30 pm IST on Friday, December 13, 2019.
Head-to-head: Bingjiao leads Sindhu 9-5
Where to watch the matches in India?
The BWF World Tour Finals matches will be telecast live on Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1HD, Star Sports 3 and Star Sports 3 HD.
Live Stream Details and Info for the matches
Live Stream will be available on Hotstar.com.