Singapore: Defending champion B Sai Praneeth crashed out of the Singapore Open after suffering a narrow three-game defeat against Japan’s Yu Igarashi in the opening round of men’s singles here Wednesday.
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 71 minutes.
Meanwhile, Subhankar Dey, Ruthvika Shivani Gadde and former national champion Rituparna Das advanced to the second round after notching up contrasting wins in the opening round.
Subhankar saw off Canada’s Jason Anthony Ho-Shue 14-21, 21-14 21-16, Ruthvika prevailed over Bulgaria’s Linda Zetchiri 21-15, 17-21, 21-16 and Rituparna advanced as Switzerland’s Sabrina Jaquet retired while trailing 3-5 in the opening game.
India’s mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy beat Germany’s Jones Ralfy Jansen and Carla Nelte 21-19, 16-21, 21-12 to enter the second round.
However, it was curtains for RMV Gurusaidutt and young Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka. Gurusaidutt’s fight ended after he went down 14-21, 19-21 to China’s Qiao Bin, while Vaishnavi lost 19-21, 7-21 to Japan’s Minatsu Mitani.
CWG bronze medallists Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy also bowed out after their gallant fight ended in a 21-18, 13-21, 14-21 loss to NG Tsz Yau and Yuen Sin Ying of Hong Kong.
Juniors shine
New Delhi: The women shuttlers excelled on the opening day for India in the Badminton Asia Junior Championships at Jakarta, Wednesday. Women shuttlers Dipti Kutty, Medha Shashidharan and Kavipriya Selvam advanced to the second round with easy wins. Dipti beat Kazakh player Aisha Zhumabek 21-18, 21-13; Medha saw off Iya Gordeyeva, also from Kazakhstan 21-9, 21-10 and then Kavipriya Selvam put it across Myanmar’s Seng Jar Nan 21-5, 21-8. In men’s singles, Kiran George, seeded 16 outlasted Malaysian Chong King Ling 24-22, 21-16. However, Aman Farogh lost to Indonesian, Karono Karono 16-21, 21-16, 17-21 after a good fight.
