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India’s challenge at the Badminton Asia Championships 2024 ended as ace shuttlers HS Prannoy and PV Sindhu bowed out of the competition. Prannoy and Sindhu faced heartbreaking losses in their respective pre-quarterfinal rounds on April 11, Thursday in Ningbo, China. The two-time Olympic medalist slumped to 6th seed Han Yue of China in a tough three-round challenge. Prannoy, on the other hand, went down to a lower-ranked Li Chun Yi, in the second round of men’s singles.
After losing her first-round clash against Yue by 18-21, world-ranked 12th Sindhu made a remarkable comeback and forced the decider with 21-13. In the final round of the clash, Sindhu’s counterpart put in a commendable effort to seal the round and victory by a scoreline of 17-21 in the R16. Prannoy went down to Chun-yi 18-21, 11-21 in a two-set challenge.
Apart from this, India’s doubles hope also ended as the duo of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto lost to the third-seeded Nami Matsumya and Chiharu Shida 21-17, 21-12 in the second round. This will be the first time that India won’t have any representation at the quarter-final stage of the Badminton Asia Championships.
Watch HS Prannoy's exclusive interview here:
India’s performance at the continental tournament is a worrying sign for the Paris 2024. While Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty opted out, Sindhu, Prannoy, and Lakshya Sen were ousted in the early stages. Lakshya, Gayatri Gopichand, and Teresa Jolly were shown exit doors in the opening rounds.
