Ace Indian shuttler B Sai Praneeth suffered a major blow as he knocked out of the ongoing China Open after slumping to defeat at the hands of Anthony Ginting of Indonesia in the quarter-final clash of the men's singles event in Changzhou on Friday. 


COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

After comfortably winning the opening game, Praneeth failed to continue his momentum and went down fighting 21-16, 6-21, 16-21 against his Indonesian opponent in a thrilling last-eight match that lasted just 55 minutes at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasiu. 


Ginting, who has now stormed into the semi-final of the tournament with win over Praneeth, will now lock horns with eighth-seed Anders Antonsen of Denmark for a place in the summit showdown. 


Praneeth had earlier swept aside local shuttler Lu Guang Zu 21-19, 21-19 in straight games to book his place in the quarter-finals of the men's singles event of the China Open. 


On Thursday, Rio Olympic silver-medallist PV Sindhu also crashed out of the tournament after going down against Pornpawee Chochuwong 21-12, 13-21, 19-21 in the second round of the women's singles event. 


With Praneeth's defeat, India's challenge in the singles has also folded.