B Sai Praneeth in action. (File Photo)
Malaysia Masters 2022: B Sai Praneeth and Sameer Verma crashed out of the Malaysia Open Super 750 Badminton tournament on Tuesday. In the opening round, Praneeth went down fighting to Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia while Sameer was defeated by Jonatan Christie from Indonesia.
In doubles, the women's pairing of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy also bowed out of the tournament after losing 15-21 11-21 to the Japanese duo of Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida, seeded sixth.
The 30-year-old Praneeth, currently ranked world number 19, lost 15-21 21-19 9-21 to Ginting in a 50-minute men's singles match.
This was the eighth meeting between the players with the Indonesian leading the head-to-head record 4-3. They last played at the 2020 Asian Team championships where Ginting won the contest after Praneeth retired due to an injury.
Sameer, who is making a comeback from injury, fought for 49 minutes before losing 14-21 21-13 7-21 in another match.
Among other Indians, Indonesia Open semifinalist HS Prannoy will face Malaysia's Liew Daren, while world number 8 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will take on the Malaysian duo of Man Wei Chong and Kai Wun Tee later in the day.
(Inputs PTI)
