Prannoy stuns Watanabe in China Open

Blitz Bureau

NEW DELHI: India got off on a mixed note in their campaign in the China Open badminton tournament as two of its top male players had contrasting fortunes,While HS Prannoy staged a remarkable comeback to save five match points and defeated World No. 18 Koki Watanabe of Japan 8-21, 21-16, 23-21 in the opening round, recovering from 2-11 down in the decider to pull off the comeback.

However, lady luck was not smiling on Lakshya as he went down to China’s 2022 Asian Games gold medallist Li Shifeng in three games, failing to press home the advantage after winning the first game. Despite winning the first game 21-14 and with a match point at 22-21, Lakshya went down to the fifth-seeded Li 21-14, 22-24, 11-21 in an intense battle that lasted over 67 minutes. Earlier in the women’s singles, India’s Anupama Upadhyaya went down fighting to World No. 22 Lin Hsiang Ti of Chinese Taipei in three games. After winning the first game 23-21, Anupama lost 11-21, 10-21 in the next two games to crash out of the event at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium.

In the women’s doubles, Kavipriya Selvam and Smiran Singh lost to Lauren Lam and Allison Lee 16-21, 14-21. They were joined on the sidelines by fellow Indians Amrutha Pramuthesh and Sonali Singh, who lost to Hsieh Pei Shan and Hung En-Tzu of Chinese Taipei 12-21, 5-21.

In the mixed doubles, Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Gadde won the first game but lost the next two and ended with a 27-25, 16-21, 14-21 result in the first round. Fellow Indians Ashith Surya and Amrutha Pramuthesh also fell at the first hurdle, losing 12-21, 17-21.

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