India’s campaign ends in Indian Open Grand Prix

Hyderabad: India’s challenge came to a premature halt in the Indian Open Grand Prix badminton tournament with both P Kashyap and PV Sindhu crashing out in the semifinals of their respective singles event here on Saturday.

Commonwealth gold medallist Kashyap was no match for top seed Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka of Indonesia in the men’s singles. Third seed Kashyap, who rose seven places to 23rd in the recent world rankings, surrendered 19-21 13-21 in just 37 minutes before Rumbaka, who is four rungs higher than the Indian in the chart. In the title clash, Rumbaka will meet Suppanyu Avihingsanon of Thailand, who stunned fourth seed Alamsyah Yunus 21-14, 23-21 of Indonesia in the other last four match. However, Sindhu gave a tough fight to her fifth seeded Indonesian opponent Fransiska Ratnasari in the semifinals of the women’s singles event before going down 21-7, 17-21, 15-21.Ratnasari will take on Chinese Zhou Hui, who defeated Ana Rovita of Indonesia 15-21 21-14 21-14 in the other last four encounter. Meanwhile, it was curtains for India in the mixed doubles too as the combination of Tarun Kona and Ashwini Ponnappa lost in straight games 12-21, 18-21 to Chinese pair of Liu Peixuan and Jinhua Tang in the semifinals.The Chinese duo will now lock horns against Teik Chai Gan and Hui Lin Ng in the title clash tomorrow. Gan and Ng defeated Singapore’s Chayut Triyachart and Yu Yan Vanessa Neo 21-17, 21-17 in another semifinal clash. PTI