Olympic silver medallist P.V. Sindhu crashed out of the Japan Open badminton tournament after a second successive defeat to local favourite Akane Yamaguchi while B. Sai Praneeth continued his good form to advance to the semifinals here on Friday.
Sindhu lost to Yamaguchi 21-18, 21-15 in a 50-minute quarterfinal match. This was Sindhu’s second defeat at the hands of the Japanese, who had beaten the Indian in the final of the Indonesian Open last week.
However, in men’s singles, Sai Praneeth recorded an easy win over Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto to reach the semifinals. His 21-12, 21-15 win fetched him a clash against top-seeded Japanese Kento Momota.
The unseeded Indian led almost all through the first game leaving the former World Championship bronze-medallist Indonesian to play the catch-up game.
The second game was a bit closer but Sai Praneeth kept the lead from the start. Not more than four points separated the two for most part but the Indian reeled off three consecutive points from 18-15 to win the match.
The men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost to the second-seeded Japanese Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda 21-19, 21-18 in a 41-minute quarterfinal clash.
The results(quarterfinals) : Men : B. Sai Praneeth bt Tommy Sugiarto (Ina) 21-12, 21-15.
Doubles : Takeshi Kamura & Keigo Sonoda (Jpn) bt Satwiksairaj Rankireddy & Chirag Shetty 21-19, 21-18.
Women : Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) bt P.V. Sindhu 21-18, 21-15 .
