Badminton News: B Sai Praneeth reaches quarters of 2019 Thailand Open

B Sai Praneeth sailed into the quarterfinals of the men’s singles event at the Thailand Open in Bangkok. Praneeth stormed into the last-eight defeating compatriot Shubhankar Dey 21-18, 21-19. He is lone India left in the singles event of the tournament after Seventh seed Saina, squandered away one game advantage to lose 21-16 11-21 14-21 against unseeded Sayaka Takahashi of Japan in the second round. Later, fifth seed Srikanth too wasted one game lead to bow out against Khosit Phetpradab of Thailand in the second round. To add to India’s woes, unseeded Indian shuttlers Parupalli Kashyap and HS Prannoy too bowed out without a fight. However, it was a good day for the men’s doubles team as a day after upsetting world No 5 in mixed doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy paired up with Chirag Shetty to overcome the world No 7 men’s doubles pairing to progress to the quarter-finals at the Thailand Open in Bangkok. Satwik and Shetty registered a straight-game 21-17 21-19 win over the Indonesian combination of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto, who are the reigning Asian Games silver medallists. The day got better for Satwik as he progressed in mixed doubles as well. After their big win on Wednesday, Ashwini Ponnappa and Satwik registered a more routine performance in the round of 16 to progress in Bangkok. The duo overcame No 27 Alfian Prasetya and Marsheilla Islami in straight games 21-18, 21-19.