BWF Thailand Open | B Sai Praneeth loses; Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa knocked out

BWF Thailand Open | B Sai Praneeth loses; Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa knocked out

no photo

|

Getty

B Sai Praneeth bowed out of the ongoing BWF Thailand Open with a 21-18, 21-12 defeat at the hands of Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan. Meanwhile, mixed doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa suffered a disappointing exit at the hands of Japanese pair Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino.

It was a disappointing day for Indian badminton fans as some of the top performing national shuttlers were knocked out of the ongoing BWF Thailand Open on Friday. First to suffer defeat was Indian men's singles player - B Sai Praneeth. The promising shuttler fell to a hard-fought 21-18 loss in the opening game against seventh seed Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan in the opening game. However, he was thoroughly swept aside in the next game by a scoreline of 21-12 as the Indian exited the competition in the quarter-finals on Friday. 

In addition to that, Indian mixed doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa also bowed out in the quarters against Japanese opposition. Playing against third seeded Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino, the Indians never looked to trouble as they suffered a straight sets loss by a 21-13, 21-15 margin. 

However, the unseeded Indian combination of Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty fought valiantly for exactly an hour to get past the Korean rivals 21-17 17-21 21-19 in their men's doubles quarter-final duel.

The win was Rankireddy and Shetty's maiden victory over the Korean pair. The 16th-ranked Indians will take on another Korean combo of Ko Sung Hyun and Shin Baek Cheol in the semifinals on Saturday. 

Get updates! Follow us on

Open all