Korea Open | Kashyap lone survivor as Saina, Sindhu, Praneeth and doubles pairs ousted
It was a day to forget for the Indian contingent in Incheon for the Korea Open as Parupalli Kashyap is the lone survivor of the day with the others ousted. Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, Sai Praneeth, and the men's doubles pairs of Shetty-Rankireddy and Attri-Sumeeth faced elimination.
Parupalli Kashyap made his way to the pre-quarterfinals in the men’s singles event of the Korea Open in Incheon on Wednesday but he was the sole Indian shuttler to finish on the winning side on a day to forget in Incheon. Kashyap, who is now the only Indian remaining in the fray, defeated Lu Chia Hung of Chinese Taipei 21-16, 21-16 and will next face Liew Daren of Malaysia in the round of 16.
The most unexpected upset of the day saw PV Sindhu get knocked out in the round of 32. The reigning world champion suffered a 21-7, 22-24, 15-21 defeat against World no. 11 Beiwen Zhang of America.
It was a tough loss for Sindhu as she had already lost in the pre-quarterfinals of the China Open last week. She had a match point in the second game but Zhang hung in there and closed out the match comfortably. Sindhu had defeated Zhang en route her World Championships gold earlier this month but the 11th seed got one back on the star Indian shuttler this time. The 24-year-old Olympic silver-medallist was knocked out of the China Open by Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong making the Korean Open exit her second successive early exit after her World championships triumph.
Another world championship medallist, B Sai Praneeth bowed out too after retiring because of an injury in his men’s singles opener. The Indian was trailing 9-21 7-11 when he conceded the match to fifth-seeded Anders Antonsen of Denmark. The 27-year-old had entered the Korea Open on the back of an exit from the quarterfinals of the China Open last week where he lost to World No. 9 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia.
Following Praneeth, Saina Nehwal was the second Indian player to retire from the tournament on Wednesday marking the end of India’s campaign in the women’s singles of the tournament. The 29-year-old star Indian shuttler exited in the first round after retiring hurt 21-19, 18-21, 1-8 against Kim Ga Eun of South Korea. This was her second consecutive first-round exit after losing in the round of 32 last week in China as well. She had a 2-0 head-to-head record against Kim before this match.
In the men’s doubles competition, India’s duo of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth lost to China’s Huang Kai Xiang and Liu Cheng 16-21, 21-19, 18-21.
The day, rather fittingly, ended on a losing note for the Indian contingent with the duo Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty losing to the fourth seeds Keigo Sonoda / Takeshi Kamura from Japan. The Indians, who had recently entered the world top 10 rankings, fought back brilliantly after losing the first game and were leading 11-10 in the decider but the Japanese prevailed in the end. The No. 4 seeds pulled away at the end of the decider to win 21-19, 18-21, 21-18 and knock out the Indian pair for the second time in two weeks.
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