B. Sai Praneeth sailed into the quarterfinals of the Thailand Open men’s singles event in Bangkok today.
Sai Praneeth, who reached the semifinals of Japan Open last week, continued his good form and stormed into the last-eight round with a comfortable 21-18, 21-19 win over compatriot Shubhankar Dey.
Kidambi Srikanth, Parupalli Kashyap and H.S.Prannoy crashed out in the second round. Srikanth lost to Khosit Phetpradab of Thailand, Kashyap to Chou Tien-chen of China and Prannoy to Kenta Nishimoto of Japan.
In Women’s Singles, seventh seed Saina Nehwal who returned to action after nearly two months, squandered a game advantage to lose against unseeded Sayaka Takahashi of Japan in the second round.
In the absence of P.V. Sindhu, who withdrew in the last minute from the event, Saina’s ouster marks the end of India’s campaign in Women’s Singles.
In mixed doubles too, the Indians had a forgettable outing as the pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy lost against eight seeds Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet of Hong Kong to bow out of the tournament.
However, it was good news for India in the men’s doubles event as the pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty moved into the quarterfinals after registering a straight-game win over Indonesian combination of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto. The India duo will next play qualifiers Choi Solgyu and Seo Seung Jae of Korea tomorrow.