Indian badminton star H S Prannoy faced an early exit from the Korea Open Super 500 tournament as he was defeated by Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu in a hard-fought second-round match. Despite being seeded fifth and ranked World No. 10, Prannoy couldn’t overcome his opponent, ranked eight places below him, in a thrilling encounter lasting one hour and six minutes.
In another men’s singles clash, Priyanshu Rajawat displayed great determination against Japan’s top-seeded Kodai Naraoka, who is ranked World No. 4. Despite a valiant effort, Rajawat couldn’t secure victory, losing 14-21, 21-18, 17-21 in a marathon match that extended for one hour and 22 minutes.
The Indian women’s doubles duo, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, faced a formidable challenge against South Korea’s second-seeded pair, Na Ha Baek and Hee So Lee. Unfortunately, they couldn’t match their opponents’ pace, losing 11-21, 4-21 in a quick 33-minute second-round match.
Similarly, the Indian mixed doubles pair, Rohan Kapoor, and Sikki Reddy, found themselves outplayed by China’s fourth-seeded duo, Zhe Yan Feng, and Ping Dong Huang, losing 15-21, 12-21 in a 35-minute encounter.
Previously, Olympic medalists P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth had also suffered defeats in their respective women’s and men’s singles opening round matches on Wednesday. The competition at the Korea Open remained fierce and challenging for the Indian badminton contingent.
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