Jakarta, 03 September (H.S.): India’s experienced shuttler H.S. Prannoy suffered a defeat at the Indonesia Masters on Thursday, bowing out in the round of 16. The top-seeded Indian was beaten by China’s Zhu Xuan-chen 22-20, 21-15 in the men’s singles pre-quarter-final.

The opening game witnessed an intense battle between the two players. Whenever Zhu managed to establish a two- or three-point lead, Prannoy fought back to narrow the deficit. Trailing 16-18, Prannoy won three consecutive points to move 19-18 ahead, but Zhu immediately levelled the score at 19-19. The players then reached 20-20 before the Chinese shuttler claimed two successive points to take the opening game 22-20.

Zhu maintained control from the beginning of the second game and gave Prannoy little opportunity to make a comeback. He wrapped up the game 21-15 to seal the match in 45 minutes.

Prannoy had earlier defeated Chinese Taipei’s Liao Juo-fu 18-21, 21-15, 21-19 in the round of 32 on Wednesday, recovering after losing the opening game. The world No. 39 secured victory in a match that lasted one hour and four minutes to advance to the last 16.

Prannoy had received a bye in the opening round. He returned to competitive action at the end of July at the Taipei Open, where he was eliminated in the round of 16. He was not included in India’s squad for the World Badminton Championships held in New Delhi.

Ashmita Chaliha Advances to Quarter-finals

In the women’s singles, top-seeded Indian Ashmita Chaliha produced an impressive comeback to defeat Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei 10-21, 21-10, 21-17 and secure her place in the quarter-finals.

Ashmita had won her maiden BWF World Tour title at the Korea Masters Super 300 last month. She defeated China’s fourth-seeded Han Qian Shi in a closely contested final to claim the title.

The world No. 38 trains at the National Centre of Excellence in Guwahati under the guidance of Park Tae-sang.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar