Tokyo Paralympics: Parul Parmar crashes out in women's singles round of badminton

Indian shuttler Parul Parmar succumbed to a 21-23, 21-19, 15-21 defeat in the women's singles SL4 category of badminton on Thursday at Tokyo Paralympics. This came as a second defeat for Parul in the group stage.

Taking on Germany's Katrin Seibert, despite Parul trailing behind, she made a quick comeback. A close contest ensued but Seibert was called for a service fault, which gave Parul an 11-10 in the interval of Game 1. A neck-to-neck contest went on with both players tied at 18-18. Tied at 20-20, Parul earned a game point with an advantage, however, Seibert quickly turned it around into another deuce. Despite coming very close, Parul couldn't convert the game point. She lost 23-21.

In Game 2, Parul, for the first time took a three-point lead in the match at 5-2. However, she couldn't hold on to the lead as Seibert won seven of the last nine points to lead 11-9 at the interval. Seibert's high serves stood unreturnable for Parul as she managed a four-point lead of 14-10. Seibert went to build a good lead and tightened things up for Parul at 18-15. A smash by Parmar took her to 16-19 after a six-shot rally. Seibert's wrong choice of took Parmar to equalise at 19-19. She closed it out winning five points in a row to win the second game and manoeuvre the match into a deciding game.

Seibert took an early lead in Game 3, she went ahead to build the lead margin by 8-3. Seibert led 11-6 at halfway mark. Parul took two points in a row at 8-12. Seibert raced on winning points and won the Game 15-21.

Earlier Parul lost her first women's singles SL4 Group match at the hands of China's Hefang Chang.