Japan Open 2022: Last pin HS Prannoy falters in quarterfinals

Saina Nehwal and Lakshya Sen made exits in the first round itself.

Japan Open has been a disappointing outing for India. HS Prannoy who qualified for the pre-quarterfinals owing to an injury sustained by his opponent Ng Ka Long qualified for the quarterfinals after defeating Loh Kean Yew of Singapore 22-20, 21-19 on Thursday. The Indian shuttler had been in great form. He recently defeated World No. 2 Kento Momota in the recently concluded BWF World Championships as well. However, India's last remaining shuttler fell to a 17-21, 21-15, 22-20 defeat against Taiwan's Chou Tien-Chen.

Kidamdi Srikanth, the bronze medallist in the recently concluded Commonwealth Games 2022, lost to Japan’s unseeded Kanta Tsuneyama in straight sets (10-21, 16-21), to be knocked out as well.

Disappointing outing for India

The biggest disappointment, however, has been the ousting of Lakshya Sen in the round of 32. Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto defeated the start shuttler in a three-game match. Sen emerged victorious in the first game 21-18 but couldn’t replicate the same kind of success in the second game, losing by 14-21. Nishimoto came into his groove by the final game and won the game quite easily by 13-21 to seal the match. 

Seasoned shuttler Saina Nehwal too made an early exit from the tournament after losing her Round of 32 matches. She lost to World no.1 Akane Yamaguchi. She lost in straight games by 21-9, 21-17.

In the women’s doubles category, Ashwini Bhat and Shikha Gautam were knocked out after losing 15-21, 9-21 to the South Korean pair of Baek Ha Na and Lee Yu Lim. 

Young Indian women's pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand didn't have a good outing either, losing in straight sets (21-17, 21-18) to Thailand's Rawinda Prajongjai and Jongkolphan Kititharakul. The men's pair of Arjun MR and Dhruv Kapila also faced exit in the round of 32, losing to South Korea's SG Choi and WH Kim (21-19, 21-23, 15-21).