Bengaluru, July 28: India's campaign in men's badminton singles at Tokyo 2020 ended after B Sai Praneeth lost to the Netherlands' Mark Caljouw 14-21, 14-21 in his second Group D tie.
The 28-year-old, making his Olympics debut had earlier lost to Israel's Misha Zilmerman 17-21, 15-21 in his first Group encounter.
The Indian shuttler failed to capitalise on a good start as he went down to Zilmarman in straight games.
Tokyo Olympics: Badminton: Praneeth loses to Zilmerman
The plot was no different in the second Group D tie as the 36-year-old Dutchman proved too good for the Indian shuttler.
With that @saiprneeth92 ends his @Tokyo2020 campaign. Not the end we wanted but it's been a great learning experience for our shuttler and we're sure that he will come back much stronger.
— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) July 28, 2021
All the best, Sai💪🏻#SmashfortheGlory#badminton#Tokyo2020#TeamIndia#SaiPraneeth pic.twitter.com/FcODDF9ZXr
With the win Caljouw made it to the round-of-16 while putting an early end to Praneeth's Olympics campaign.
Earlier in the day, in the women's section, India's PV Sindhu advanced to the knockout stage after maintaining a clean slate in the group stage.
Tokyo Olympics: PV Sindhu goes past Cheung, enters knockout round
The world champion defeated Hong Kong's Ngan Yi Cheung in straight games 21-9, 21-16 to cruise into the elimination round of women's singles in Tokyo.
Sindhu, who won a silver medal at 2016 Rio Games and is eyeing a gold at Tokyo 2020, will next face Denmark's Mia Blichfeldt in in the round-of-16 clash.