Australian Open 2024: HS Prannoy, Sameer Verma crash out in quarters; India's challenge ends

Sameer Verma’s stupendous comeback run halted by Lin Chun-yi.

India’s challenge at the Australian Open 2024 drew to a conclusion following HS Prannoy’s exit from the men’s singles quarterfinals on Friday (June 14). Apart from Prannoy, Sameer Verma — who stunned former World Champion Loh Kean Yew in the previous round — also bowed out as did Aakarshi Kashyap in the last eight stage.

Sameer Verma’s remarkable journey at the Australian Open 2024 ended in the quarterfinals with a loss to world number #17 Lin Chun-yi from Taiwan, 12-21, 13-21. Verma, who is currently ranked #114 in the world, stunned the badminton community yesterday by defeating former world champion Loh Kean Yew in a thrilling three-game match. Notably, Verma has previously reached as high as 11th in the world rankings.

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HS Prannoy falls to Japan’s Kodai Naraoka at Australian Open 2024

In another men’s singles quarter-final, India’s top ranked singles shuttler HS Prannoy was defeated by Japan’s WR #6, Kodai Naraoka, with a scoreline of 21-19, 21-13.

The match started with a neck-and-neck battle between the Japanese and Prannoy. Naraoka, who last won a BWF World Tour title in 2023, held a one-point advantage at the interval of the first game. Following the interval, the Japanese took five straight points, leading 16-10. Prannoy staged a strong comeback, taking the lead at 19-18, but Naraoka closed the first game by taking three straight points to win it 21-19.

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In the second game, he again led 11-7 at the interval. Demonstrating his command over the game, the Japanese player maintained his lead throughout the game. Despite Prannoy’s efforts, he couldn’t mount a comeback this time and ultimately lost the game 13-21, resulting in Naraoka’s victory.

In the women’s singles category, Aakarshi Kashyap lost to Taiwan’s number #3 seed, Pai Yu-po, with a score of 17-21, 12-21.

In the mixed doubles, the Indian pair B. Sumeeth Reddy and N. Sikki Reddy were defeated by the world number #5 Chinese pair, Jiang Zhenbang and Wei Yaxin, in straight games, 21-12, 21-14.

With the Paris Olympics 2024 just a month away, several top Indian shuttlers, including PV Sindhu, Satwik-Chirag and Lakshya Sen, had opted out of this BWF Super 500 tournament to continue with their preparation for Paris. Indian shuttlers will next be in action at the US Open, which begins from June 25.

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