NAGPUR: India's fast-rising shuttler Malvika Bansod found Thailand's world No 10 and sixth seed Pornpawee Chochuwong too hot to handle in the second round of Korea Open Super 500 badminton tournament on Thursday.
Having failed to get into her groove, Malvika was humbled by Pornpawee in the first game 8-21. Though the 20-year-old tried to fight her way back in the later part of the second game, it was too late for Malvika to match experienced Pornpawee and was ousted by her higher ranked opponent 14-21. Their second-round women's singles clash lasted for 39 minutes.
Unseeded Malvika, ranked 65th in the world, had a false start as she failed to find her rhythm in the initial stage. Thailand's seasoned campaigner raced away to 8-2 lead which she stretched further to 11-3 at the break and closed the first game 21-8.
The script remained the same in the second game where Pornpawee, the 2016 women's junior champion, scored seven successive points to take a handy 10-2 lead while heading into the break at 11-6.
Though Malvika tried to fight her way back in the game by scoring three points on the trot twice while bringing the lead down to 11-16 and 14-18 respectively, she fell short and the 24-year-old Pornpawee sealed the fate of her young rival 21-14.
