B Sai Praneeth
B Sai Praneeth's maiden Olympic campaign ended in agony in the men's competition of the Tokyo Games here on Wednesday.
13th seed Praneeth failed to bring his 'A' game to the table once again, going down 14-21 14-21 to Mark Caljouw of Netherlands in 40 minutes for his second defeat in Group D.
The world no 15 Indian had earlier lost his opening round to Israel's Misha Zilberman.
World no 29 Caljow, with this win, topped the group to qualify for the knockout stage. Only the group toppers advance to the knockout stage.
Praneeth opened up a 8-5 lead initially but Caljouw caught up to lead 11-9 at the break.
The Dutch player continued to maintain his stranglehold on the Indian to eventually pocket the first game.
Praneeth looked more aggressive in his approach in the second game and zoomed to a 6-0 lead early on.
But Caljouw once again worked his way back into the game to lead 10-8 after Praneeth erred twice. He held a three-point advantage when the Indian shot long.
Praneeth was inconsistent and erratic and didn't have answers to his opponent's precise returns.
"I was not confident enough. I was trying everything but there was no confidence in my strokes. I came on the court to win but unfortunately it was not a good performance for me. I started well in the second and then lost the points," Praneeth said.
On Tuesday, Indian shuttlers Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy suffered a heartbreak after they failed to qualify for the men's doubles quarterfinals at the Tokyo Olympics despite winning two matches in their group.
The Indian duo had emerged victorious against the England pair of Ben Lane and Sean Vendy in their final Group A match but still missed out on quarterfinals after the three pairs ended with same points and games won were considered to identify the qualifiers.
