AUCKLAND: Ace Indian shuttler HS Prannoy suffered a major setback as he bowed out of the ongoing New Zealand Grand Prix Gold tournament after going down fighting against 11th seed Lin Yu Hsien of Chinese Taipei in the quarter-finals of the men’s singles event here on Friday.
After losing the first game by a big margin, fourth-seed Prannoy rebounded strongly to win the next game before once again going down against Yu Hsien in an exhilarating quarter-final clash that lasted more than one hour.
The final score read 10-21, 22-20, 23-21 in favour of Yu Hsien.
Seventh-seeded Sourabh Verma, another Indian in the fray, also knocked out of the tournament after slumping to a 16-21, 19-21 defeat against Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu in his last-eight clash that lasted 42 minutes.
With Prannoy and Sourabh’s exit, India’s campaign in the tournament also folded.