Vietnam Open: B Sai Praneeth's Crashes Out In Second Round

Indian shuttler B Sai Praneeth, a former world championship bronze medalist, continued to struggle as he was knocked out in the second round of the Vietnam Open 2022 after losing to fellow countryman Rithvik Sanjeevi Satish Kumar on Wednesday. Playing on the badminton courts at Nguyen Du Cultural Sports Club in Ho Chi Minh City, India's B Sai Praneeth, 40th in the badminton world rankings, went down to world No. 225 Rithvik Sanjeevi Satish Kumar 21-17, 18-21, 13-21 in one hour and three minutes.

B Sai Praneeth was on the back foot in the first game and trailed 8-4 after early exchanges. Satish Kumar maintained the four-point cushion but at 16-12, B Sai Praneeth won nine of the next ten points for a 1-0 lead.

Satish Kumar was leading 13-8 in the second game. Though former world No. 10 B Sai Praneeth gradually reduced the gap, Kumar remained calm to level the match 1-1.

The third game was tied at 8-8 when Satish Kumar took the next six points. He then won the match with ease and will face China's Chia Hao in the pre quarter-finals on Thursday.

B Sai Praneeth, who has featured in 10 BWF events this year, is yet to reach the quarter-final stage in the 2022 season.

Sai Praneeth became only the second Indian men's shuttler to win a BWF world championships medal, a bronze, in 2019. He was world No. 20 in BWF rankings last month but has dropped down 20 places since then.

Commonwealth Games mixed team gold medallist N Sikki Reddy progressed to the quarter-finals of the mixed doubles event at the BWF Super 100 badminton tournament.

Playing alongside Rohan Kapoor, Reddy won her round of 16 match against Fan Ka Yan-Shing Choi Yeung of Hong Kong China 21-10, 19-21, 21-18 in 50 minutes on Thursday.

Earlier at the Vietnam Open, junior