Sydney –Australian Open campaign: India’s campaign at the Australian Open ended after HS Prannoy crashed out in the quarterfinals in Sydney on Friday.
India’s Australian Open campaign ends with HS Prannoy’s quarter-final loss:
Prannoy, the world number 10 shuttler, was defeated by Japan’s Kodai Naraoka, the world number six, 21-19, 21-13 in under an hour, according to Olympics.com.
Also Read :HS Prannoy will lead the Indian challenge at the Australia Open badminton tournament 2024 .
The bronze medalist at last year’s world championships was put on the backfoot during the first game, but showed plenty of fight and resilience to go into the mid-game break with just one point. After the restart, Kodai regained its momentum and scored six points in a row, from then on, the Japanese never looked back and easily overcame a stalemate in the second game despite some long rallies and the Indians holding an early lead.
This is Pranay’s sixth loss to Kodai in seven matches. Pranay’s only win came against the Japanese during the Indonesia Open last year.
Earlier in this Badminton World Federation (BWF) Super 500 tournament, Prannoy defeated world number 53, Misha Zilberman of Israel to reach his first quarter-final since January’s India Open.
In another game, Sameer Verma, who had earlier registered a stunning upset against Singapore’s Loh Ken Yue in the pre-quarters, lost 21-12, 21-13 to world number 17 Lin Chun-yi of Chinese Taipei.
In the women’s singles, eighth seed Akarshi Kashyap lost to third seed Pai Yu-po of Chinese Taipei 21-17, 21-12.
In the mixed doubles event, B Sumit Reddy and N Sikki Reddy lost to World No. 5 Jiang Zhen Bang and Wei Ya Jin of the People’s Republic of China 21-12, 21-14.
Indian badminton players will be next in action at the US Open BWF Super 300 tournament starting June 25. (ANI)