Praneeth advances to last eight
   Date :02-Aug-2019

 
BANGKOK:
 
ACE Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth crashed out of the Thailand Open after suffering unexpected defeats but B Sai Praneeth sailed into the quarter-finals of the men’s singles here on Thursday. Seventh seed Saina, who returned to action after nearly two months, squandered a game advantage to lose 21-16, 11-21, 14-21 against unseeded Sayaka Takahashi of Japan in a women’s singles second round duel that lasted 48 minutes. In the absence of PV Sindhu, who withdrew in the last minute from the event, Saina’s ouster marks the end of India’s campaign in women’s singles.
 
Saina had earlier made last-minute withdrawals from Indonesia Open and last week’s Japan Open because of injuries. Later, fifth seed Srikanth too wasted a game’s lead to bow out against less-fancied Khosit Phetpradab of Thailand 21-11, 16-21, 12-21 in the second round of the men’s singles. To add to India’s woes, unseeded Indian shuttlers Parupalli Kashyap and HS Prannoy too bowed out without a fight. While Kashyap was no match for third seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei, losing 9-21, 14-21 in just 33 minutes, Prannoy suffered a 17-21, 10-21 defeat against sixth seed Kenta Nishimoto of Japan. But Sai Praneeth, who reached the semi-finals of Japan Open last week, continued his good form and stormed into the last-eight round with a comfortable 21-18, 21-19 win over compatriot Shubhankar Dey. Sai Praneeth will be up against seventh seed Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan in the next round.
 
However, it was good news for India in the men’s doubles event as the pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty moved into the quarter-finals after registering a straight-game 21-17, 21-19 win over Indonesian combination of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto. The India duo will next play qualifiers Choi Solgyu and Seo Seung Jae of Korea on Friday. In mixed doubles, the pair of Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponappa defeated Indonesia’s Alfian Eko Prasetya and Marsheilla Gischa Islami 21-18, 21-19 to make it to the last-eight round.