German Open champion Arvind Bhat crashed out of the New Zealand Open on Friday losing to top-seeded Jen Hao Hsu of Chinese Taipei in the semifinals of the $50,000 Grand Prix event in Auckland.
The fifth-seeded Indian went down 21-14, 21-9 to Jen in a 33-minute match.
Arvind fought back from 2-5 to 6-6 in the first game but Jen broke off at 9-9 and never gave the Indian another chance.
In the second game, Jen was more dominating as he accumulated points at will to create a huge gulf which Arvind could not bridge. From 4-4, Jen jumped to 9-4 and then 16-5 as Arvind’s game crumbled.
Two-time national champion Arvind had defeated Malaysia’s Tang Jie Chen 21-8, 21-14 before edging out another Malaysian Chun Seang Tan, seeded third, 22-20, 9-21, 21-18 in another match on Thursday.
The other Indian in the fray, second-seeded Sourabh Varma too bowed out losing 21-18, 21-15 to 14th-seeded Kuei Chun Shih of Chinese Taipei.
