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 competition here today.
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.
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.
While 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 emerged victories with Switzerland’s Sabrina Jaquet retiring after trailing 3-5 in the opening game.
India’s best 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 former Commonwealth Games bronze medallist 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.
Commonwealth Games 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.
Mandiraju Anilkumar Raju and Venkat Gaurav Prasad also failed to cross the opening hurdle. (AGENCIES)
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