Japan Open: Sai Praneeth kickstarts campaign with straight-game victory
Other Sports | July 23, 2019 11:38 ISTSai Praneeth made a winning start on his return to Japan Open, as he secured a straight-game victory over Kento Nishimoto.
Sai Praneeth made a winning start on his return to Japan Open, as he secured a straight-game victory over Kento Nishimoto.
With defending champion HS Prannoy and finalist Kidambi Srikanth withdrawing due to fitness issues, former champion Sai Praneeth will be one of the favourites to lift the trophy
Sixth seed Praneeth, who has been out of form of late, went down 21-16, 16-21, 18-21 to Igarashi in a match that lasted an hour and 11 minutes.
Sameer lost 14-21 6-21 to his opponent while Praneeth lost 21-23, 14-21 to his opponent from Hong Kong.
The 25-year-old Sai Praneeth was the lone Indian left in fray in the tournament after he entered the semifinals of the men's singles event on Friday.
Indian shuttlers have so far won four Super Series titles out of six in 2017 and barring P V Sindhu's win at the India Open, it's the Indian men's brigade led by Kidambi Srikanth, which has been on a rampage this year.
The 24-year old who has stunned top shuttlers like Taufik Hidayat and Lee Chong Wei during his career feels he need to be more consistent and win big titles.
Kidambi Srikanth, who was in his third quarter-final in the last five tournaments that he has participated in, made it to the semi-finals with a 25-23, 21-17 win.
Kidambi Srikanth defeated World No. 1 Son Wan Ho 15-21, 21-13, 21-13 to advance to the quarter-final stage of the series.
Mixed day for Indian shuttlers as defending champion Saina Nehwal, P.V. Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth and B. Sai Praneeth advanced to the next round while Parupalli Kashyap, Ajay Jayaram and H.S. Prannoy bowed out from Australian Superseries tournament.
This is Praneeth's second consecutive title win, following the Singapore Open victory. He had reached the finals of Syed Modi International in January at Hyderabad, where he lost to Sameer Verma.
Praneeth booked his place in the final after registering an easy 21-11 21-15 win against local player Pannawit Thongnuam while second seed Saina went down narrowly 19-21 18-21 to local shuttler Busanan Ongbamrungphan.
He won the Singapore Open on Sunday by defeating Kadambi Srikanth, his training partner at the Gopichand Badminton Academy here, giving a big boost to his confidence and career.
Kidambi Srikanth and Sai Praneeth set up an exciting all-Indian men's singles final at the Singapore Open Super Series badminton tournament after comfortably winning their semifinal clashes here today.
Star Indian shuttler P.V. Sindhu today whipped Fitriani Fitriani of Indonesia and entered into the quarterfinals of the USD 350,000 Singapore Open Superseries badminton tournament here on Thursday.
Two-time champion and top seed Saina Nehwal and B Sai Praneeth reached the pre-quarterfinals of the women's and men's singles competition at the USD 120,000 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament here today.
Basel (Switzerland): Top seed Kidambi Srikanth alongwith other Indian shuttlers Anand Pawar and B Sai Praneeth entered the third round of the USD 120,000 Swiss Grand Prix Gold badminton championship here Wednesday.World No. 5 Srikanth,
Mumbai: Rising young shuttler B Sai Praneeth has injured his right shin muscle while playing in the ongoing 6th Tata Open India International Challenge here and is a doubtful starter for next week's 78th Senior
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