Indian shuttler Sai Praneeth failed to make it to the main draw of the Li Ning China Masters going down fighting 13-21, 21-18, 20-22 in 89 minutes to Huan Gao of China in the qualification round of the men’s singles event at Changzhou on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the other Indians in the fray, R.M.V. Guru Sai Dutt will square off against Malaysian Muhammad Hafiz Hashim, while Sourabh Varma will be up against another Malaysian in Daren Liew.
In the lower half of the draw, Ajay Jayaram and Anand Pawar have been handed tough opening matches. While Jayaram will face third-seeded Japanese Kenichi Tago, Pawar will fight it out against second-seeded Chinese Jin Chen.
The only Indian in the women’s singles, in the absence of resting Olympic bronze-medallist Saina Nehwal, would be P.V. Sindhu, who will face American Jamie Subandhi in her opening match.
