Sai Praneeth no match for Ginting at China Open

The Indian challenge at the China Open came to an end on Friday after B. Sai Praneeth lost to Indonesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting after putting up a strong fight on Friday.

Sai Praneeth, who defeated Ginting en route to his historic BWF World Championships bronze at Basel last month, bowed out against the same opponent in the quarter-final.

PV Sindhu’s elimination at the hands of Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong on Thursday made Praneeth India’s lone survivor, and although he managed to win the first game, he couldn’t maintain his momentum and went down 21-16, 6-21, 16-21 in 55 minutes.

In the first game, Ginting had bounced back from a 3-11 deficit to make it 11-14 but Praneeth ensured that he sealed it 21-16 at the end. Ginting, however, came back much stronger to dominate the second game, that included a run of scoring six straight points, to draw level. 

The decider, though, was tighter between the two as Praneeth went into the break with a 11-7 lead. However, Ginting managed to bag six straight points again to turn it around and clinch the game 16-21, to book his place in the semi-finals.

In her groove

Meanwhile, former world champion, Carolina Marin sailed into the semi-final after upstaging China’s He Bing Jiao in a nerve-wracking contest.

In a match that lasted nearly an hour, Olympic gold medalist Marin beat He Bing Jiao 11-21, 21-14, 21-15 to set-up a semi-final clash against Japan’s Sayaka Takahashi on Saturday.