Third seed B Sai Praneeth bows out of 2018 New Zealand Open Badminton following the defeat to second seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in the men’s singles semifinals. With this loss India’s challenge at the event comes to a close.
Also Read| List of top 5 badminton players from India currently
Praneeth started on a good note and won the first game 21-14. He took an early lead in the second game, but the Indonesian opponent bounced back and won the second game 19-21 to force a decider. Praneeth again floundered in the crunch situation and lost the third game 8-21 to hand over a convincing victory to Christie.
Earlier, Praneeth took just 28 minutes to break the challenge of Sri Lanka’s Niluka Karunaratne 21-7 21-9 in the quarterfinals.
In the title clash, Christie will face two times Olympic champion Lin Dan.
