New Zealand Open: India's campaign comes to an end as B Sai Praneeth loses out

B Sai Praneeth, who was the lone Indian left in fray in the tournament, finally lost to Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in the Men's Singles semi-finals on Saturday.
Indian badminton star B Sai Praneeth (File | PTI)
Indian badminton star B Sai Praneeth (File | PTI)

AUCKLAND: B Sai Praneeth, who was the lone Indian left in fray in the tournament, finally lost to Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in the Men's Singles semi-finals on Saturday.

The 25-year-old, who was placed third for this tournament, won the first game comfortably and was leading the second game for a while.

But soon his efforts came to an end, when he succumbed to a 14-21, 21-19, 21-8 loss in a match that lasted over an hour.

Christie fought back and managed to score two straight points, when the score was tied at 19-19.

Praneeth tried to compete against his Indonesian rival in the third game, but Christie managed to enter the finals.

Sai had entered the semi-finals in Men's Single Badminton Tournament on Friday by wrapping up a comfortable win over Sri Lanka's Niluka Karunaratne in just 29 minutes.

The world's No 18 triumphed over Karunaratne 21-7, 21-9 in the quarter-final.

In the other quarter-finals of the Men's Singles, two-time Olympic champion Sameer Verma lost to China's top-seeded Lin Dan in a one-sided bout.

The Chinese player defeated Sameer by 21-19, 21-9 in 40 minutes to finish out.

This was the first encounter between the world's 10th seed Dan and 26th ranker Sameer.

In Men's doubles, B Sumeeth Reddy and Manu Attri lost 10-21, 15-21 against fourth seeds Thailand's Bodin Isara and Nipitphon Phuangphuapet.

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