Auckland: The Indian challenge at the New Zealand open badminton championship ended Friday as third seed B Sai Praneeth went down 21-14, 19-21, 8-21 fighting to second seed Jonathan Christie of Indonesia in the men’s singles semifinals here.
Praneeth started the game on a positive note winning the first game comfortably. The 25-year-old Indian continued his form in the second game too as he led the game for a while but Christie came back strongly to tie the score at 19-19. The Indonesian then won two straight points to pocket the game.
However, in the decider Christie dominated from the start giving little chance to a struggling Praneeth to take away the victory which lasted a little over an hour.
Christie will face legendary Lin Dan of China in the final encounter Sunday who defeated Korean Heo Kwang Hee 21-16, 21-16 in the other semifinal.
In the women’s singles final, Japanese top seed Sayaka Takahasi will face Zhang Yiman of China. Sayaka defeated compatriot fourth seed Minatsu Mitani 17-21, 21-12, 21-11 while Zhang got better of compatriot Han Yue 21-19, 21-15 in the semifinals.
Press trust of india
