Sydney [Australia], June 15 : India's campaign at the Australian Open came to an end following HS Prannoy's elimination in the quarterfinals in Sydney on Friday.
Prannoy, the world number 10 shuttler, lost to Japan's Kodai Naraoka, the world number sixth by 21-19, 21-13 in two straight games in an hour, as per Olympics.com.
The bronze medalist in the World Championships last year was put on the backfoot during the first game, but showed immense fight and resilience to go into the mid-game break trailing by just one point. Following the restart, Kodai regained his momentum and secured six successive points, From then on, the Japanese did not look back and overcame a patchy Prannoy easily in the second game, despite some long rallies and the Indian initially holding a lead.
This is Prannoy's sixth loss to Kodai in seven matches. Prannoy's only victory against the Japanese came last year during the Indonesia Open.
Earlier in this Badminton World Federation (BWF) Super 500 tournament, Prannoy had defeated world number 53, Misha Zilberman of Israel to make it to his first quarterfinal since January's India Open.
In the other game, Sameer Verma, who had previously registered a stunning upset against Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the pre-quarters, lost to Chinese Taipei's world No. 17 Lin Chun-Yi by 21-12, 21-13.
In the women's singles competition, Aakarshi Kashyap, the eighth-seeded, lost to Chinese Taipei's third-seeded Pai Yu-Po 21-17, 21-12.
In the mixed doubles event, B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy lost to world No. 5 Jiang Zhen Bang and Wei Ya Xin of the People's Republic of China 21-12, 21-14.
Indian badminton players will be next in action during the US Open BWF Super 300 tournament starting on June 25.
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