File photo of HS Prannoy© AFP
Top Indian shuttler HS Prannoy made an early exit from the Badminton Asia Championships as he lost to Zu Guang Lu of China in the men’s singles opening round in Ningbo, China, on Wednesday. Prannoy, who hasn’t been at his best since suffering a bout of Chikengunya, lost to his Chinese opponent 16-21 21-12 11-21 in a round of 32 match that lasted one hour and eight minutes. Kiran George, however, made it to the pre-quarterfinals with a 21-16, 21-8 win over Dmitriy Panarin of Kazakhstan in 35 minutes.
In women’s singles, Aakarshi Kashyap and Anupama Upadhyaya lost their respective matches to crash out of the tournament.
While Aakarshi lost to world number three Han Yue of China 13-21 7-21 in 31 minutes, Anupama was beaten by world number 13 and eighth seed Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand 13-21 14-21 in 36 minutes.
In women’s doubles, Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra suffered defeat to Chinese Taipei’s Shuo Yun Sung and Chien Hui Yu 11-21 13-21 in 35 minutes.
In men’s doubles, the unheralded duo of Hariharan Amsakarunan and Ruban Kumar Rethinasabapathi beat Sri Lankan pair of Madhuka Dulanjana and Lahiru Weerasinghe 21-3, 21-12 in just 19 minutes in round of 32.
However, the Indian duo of Pruthvi Krishnamurthy Roy and Sai Pratheek K lost to Chinese Taipei pair of Chiu Hsiang Chieh and Wang Chi-Lin 19-21 12-21.
Lakshya Sen and PV Sindhu will play in their respective men’s and women’s singles matches later in the day.
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