China Open: B Sai Praneeth, Parupalli Kashyap bow out in second round

Ace Indian shuttlers B Sai Praneeth and Parupalli Kashyap on Thursday suffered a major blow as they crashed out of the ongoing China Open badminton tournament after going down in their respective second round clashes in Fuzhou. 

After going down in the opening game, Praneeth bounced back strongly to seal a narrow win in the second game against fourth-seeded Anders Antonsen of Denmark. 

However, the Indian shuttler failed to capitalise on the same and slumped to a 20-22, 22-20, 16-21 defeat at the hands of Antonsen in a thrilling pre-quarterfinal clash of the men's singles event of the tournament that lasted one hour and 24 minutes. 

On Wednesday, Praneeth rallied back from the second game down to kick off his campaign at the China Open with a 15-21, 21-12, 21-10 triumph over Indonesia's Tommy Sugiarto in a 52-minute opening round match. 

Antonsen, on ther other hand, will now face either Hong Kong's Lee Cheuk Yiu or Indonesia's Jonatan Christie for a place in the quarter-final of the ongoing tournament.

Meanwhile, Kashyap suffered 13-21, 19-21 straight games defeat against seventh-seeded Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in another second-round match of the men's singles event that lasted 42 minutes. 

With the win, Axelsen has now set up a pre-quarterfinal clash against top-seeded Kento Momota of Japan. 

Elsewhere, the Indian mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa too knocked out of the tournament after suffering a 21-23, 16-21 defeat at the hands of the Korean team of Seo Seung Jae and Chae Yujung in the second round that lasted just 40 minutes. 

It is to be noted that after today's result India's campaign at the men's singles event and the mixed doubles' event has ended.