Ace Indian shuttler B Sai Praneeth suffered a major blow as he knocked out of the ongoing China Open after slumping to defeat at the hands of Anthony Ginting of Indonesia in the quarter-final clash of the men's singles event in Changzhou on Friday.
After comfortably winning the opening game, Praneeth failed to continue his momentum and went down fighting 21-16, 6-21, 16-21 against his Indonesian opponent in a thrilling last-eight match that lasted just 55 minutes at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasiu.
Ginting, who has now stormed into the semi-final of the tournament with win over Praneeth, will now lock horns with eighth-seed Anders Antonsen of Denmark for a place in the summit showdown.
Praneeth had earlier swept aside local shuttler Lu Guang Zu 21-19, 21-19 in straight games to book his place in the quarter-finals of the men's singles event of the China Open.
On Thursday, Rio Olympic silver-medallist PV Sindhu also crashed out of the tournament after going down against Pornpawee Chochuwong 21-12, 13-21, 19-21 in the second round of the women's singles event.
With Praneeth's defeat, India's challenge in the singles has also folded.
