Indian shuttler B Sai Praneeth beat Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen 21-16, 21-17 in the quarter-finals of the Thailand Open on Friday. Praneeth was in sensational form as he demolished the local player with ease to reach the semis. In the quarters, Praneeth had beaten ninth seed Iskandar Zulkarnain of Malaysia 21-13, 21-18.
On Thursday, Saina Nehwal breezed into the quarter-finals of the Thailand Open as she dispatched Malaysia’s Ying Lee 21-11, 21-14. The former world No 1 won the match in under 40 minutes and will face Japanese qualifier Haruko Suzuki for a spot in the semi-finals.
However, it was curtains for Sourabh Verma and Sai Uttejitha Rao Chukka in the men’s and women’s singles competition respectively. Verma went down fighting against fifth seed Brice Leverdez of France 16-21, 25-23, 11-21 ,while Sai Uttejitha Rao lost 15-21, 17-21 to Pattarasuda Chaiwan of Thailand. In the mixed doubles draw, Prajakta Sawant and her Malaysian partner Yogendran Khrishnan lost 10-21, 9-21 to top seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand.