H S Prannoy went down fighting in the men's singles quarter-finals against world championships bronze medallist Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei, bringing down the curtains on India's campaign at the Japan Open in Osaka on Friday.
Prannoy registered a 21-18, 22-20 win over the world number 12 Chen
Prannoy will take on Rajawat in the second round.
Srikanth, Prannoy enter pre-quarters; Aakarshi knocked out
The BWF was forced to cancel multiple tournaments and postpone the Asia leg and the World Tour Final to January next year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lakshya Sen mounted a remarkable comeback to become the first male Indian shuttler to qualify for the singles semi-finals at the Olympic Games.
In mixed doubles, the husband-wife Indian pair of B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy defeated Malaysia's Wong Tien Ci and Lim Chiew Sien 21-17, 21-19.
Prannoy looked in good touch as he reeled off five points on the trot to zoom to a comfortable 11-4 lead. However, the Indian was guilty of missing the lines twice and also found the net, allowing Wang to cut the deficit to three points at 11-14.
This is the first time that Sindhu has lost to a fellow Indian in an international event in seven years.
The reigning Olympic silver medallist took just 36 minutes to record her 2nd win in the competition.
Ayush stuns Naraoka to join Satwik-Chirag, Lakshya in quarterfinals at Hong Kong Open
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu suffered another second round defeat when she went down fighting against He Bingjiao of China in the women's singles competition at the $300,000 French Open Super Series badminton tournament in Paris on Friday.
The Indian will have yet another uphill task at hand when he takes on Axelsen, the baby-faced badminton giant, who has terrorised his opponents in the last few years.
Sindhu was made to toil hard by China's He Bing Jiao
Defending champion Kidambi Srikanth beat compatriot Sameer Verma 22-20, 19-21, 23-21 in an absorbing men's singles quarter-final to enter the semi-finals of the Denmark Open, in Odense, on Friday night. The Indian ace will meet second seeded Japanese and world No 1 Kento Momota, who got the better of Thailand's Khosit Phetpradab 21-13, 21-9 in another quarter-final.
Srikanth had last reached the quarterfinals at the Singapore Open in April.
Fourth seeded Sindhu took 39 minutes to get the better of World No 22 Mia 21-13, 21-19, her second straight win over the Dane.
Expectations from the Indian male shuttlers will also be high, given their exploits in recent months.
Leverdez, the world number 31, scored only his second win over Lee in nine matches and said playing without fear helped him in the 75-minute contest at the Emirates Arena.
Kidambi Srikanth continued his giant-killing spree while Saina Nehwal hardly broke a sweat to advance to the pre-quarterfinals of the USD 350,000 Hong Kong Super Series in Kowloon on Wednesday.
Kidambi Srikanth, Priyanshu Rajawat and Kiran George won their respective men's singles round-of 16 matches to advance to the quarterfinals late on Thursday night.
Two-time champion and top seed Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu reached the pre-quarterfinals of the $ 120,000 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold in Basel.
Senior Indian shuttler Arvind Bhat advanced to the semi-finals of the $120,000 German Open Grand Prix Gold after registering a straight-game victory over Danish 14th seed Viktor Axelsen in Mulheim an der Ruhr.
H S Prannoy stunned World No 10 Kanta Tsuneyama while ace Indian women shuttlers PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal also sailed into the second round of the Malaysia Masters, in Kuala Lumpur, on Wednesday. World Championships bronze-medallist B Sai Praneeth and the seasoned Kidambi Srikanth, though, bowed out of the men's singles events.
Srikanth fought hard for 55 minutes against second seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei
World number one Kento Momota was stunned by number 38 South Korea's Heo Kwanghee on Wednesday, going down 15-21, 19-21 and looking visibly despondent at each lost point in his first round match at the Olympics, on Wednesday.
Former national champion Arvind Bhat entered the $120,000 German Open Grand Prix Gold finals after registering a thrilling three-game victory over Chinese Taipei's Tien Chen Chou in the men's singles in Mulheim an der Ruhr, Germany.
Making a comeback after a three-month injury lay-off, Saina Nehwal struggled to make an impression as she went down to Thailand's Porntip Buranaprasertsuk in the first round of the China Open Super Series.
It was yet another forgettable outing in Tokyo for Praneeth, following his struggles at last year's Olympic Games where he participated without a proper coach or physio to eventually bow out early.
Saina showed signs of regaining her form on her way to a sensational win over Chinese world number 9 He Bing Jiao
It was a day of mixed fortunes for India's badminton players at the $120,000 US Open Grand Prix Gold tournament as Sai Praneeth sneaked into the quarter-finals after a hard-earned victory while compatriots Ajay Jayaram and R M V Gurusaidutt lost their respective men's singles matches.
Indian shuttlers Ajay Jayaram, R M V Gurusaidutt and Sai Praneeth entered the pre-quarterfinals of the men's singles event at the $120,000 US Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament after victories over their respective opponents.
HS Prannoy breezed into the quarter-finals with a stunning straight-game win over former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore but it was curtains for Kidambi Srikanth at the Japan Open Super 750 tournament.
World No. 1 Yamaguchi, however, had to toil hard to get across three-time world champion and Rio gold medallist Carolina Marin of Spain 21-17, 14-21, 21-19 in the day's first match at the IG stadium in New Delhi.
Indian challenge ended at the Japan Open on Friday as Parupalli Kashyap was beaten by sixth seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei in the men's singles quarter-finals.
P V Sindhu made a positive start to her campaign in women's singles but Kidambi Srikanth suffered a straight game loss on the opening day of the $ 1 million Dubai Super Series Final, in Dubai on Wednesday.
Rising player Lakshya Sen went down to Denmark's Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus
Srikanth was to play against Momota in the first round on Wednesday but the Japanese world number one pulled out of the tournament on Tuesday
London Games bronze medallist Saina, who had retired midway through her first match at Uber Cup Final due to a groin injury, couldn't match Japan's world no 20 Aya Ohori and lost 21-16, 21-14 in the opening round.
Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap emerged as the lone survivor at the Japan Open in an otherwise disappointing day for India as top shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth made an early exit from the Super Series tournament in Tokyo, on Thursday.
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