China Open: Kashyap, Sai Praneeth, Satwik-Ashwini crash out

Fuzhou (China), November 7: India's Parupalli Kashyap crashed out of the China Open Super 750 badminton tournament after suffering a straight-game defeat to Denmark's Victor Axelsen in Fuzhou, China on Thursday (November 7).

Kashyap, ranked 25 in the world, ran out of steam after a decent start against seventh seed Axelsen and went down 13-21 19-21 in the men's singles second-round, that lasted 43 minutes.

This is the second time Kashyap has lost to Axelsen this year. The former Commonwealth Games champion Kashyap, who reached the semifinals at India Open and Korea Open earlier this year, had lost to the world number six at the India Open in March.

Later on Thursday (November 7), like his compatriot Kashyap, world number 11 B Sai Praneeth also went down fighting to a shuttler from Denmark, Anders Antonsen in the men's singles.

Sai Praneeth fought back from a game down, but eventually lost 20-22, 22-20, 16-21 to the fourth seed Dane in the match that lasted for nearly one and half an hour.

Meanwhile, mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa also crashed out. The duo lost to South Korean pair Seo Seung Jae and Chae YuJung 23-21, 21-16 in the second-round match that lasted 40 minutes.

(With PTI inputs)