HS Prannoy, Priyanshu Rajawat bow out of the China Open in the opening round

Indian badminton star HS Prannoy bowed out of the China Open after falling prey to Malaysia’s Ng Tze Yong in the opening round. The world number six recently won the bronze medal in the BWF World Championships and surprisingly not at his best in China.

He lost the clash 12-21, 21-13, 18-21 and bowed out in the opening round.

Interestingly, this was the first meeting between the two shuttlers and the Malaysian ended up on top. He will now face world number 45 Shishar Hiren to reach the quarter-finals.

Prannoy had a great outing in the BWF World Championships where he bagged India’s only medal in the tournament. He defeated Viktor Axelsen in the quarter-finals to ensure the bronze medal. However, he lost the semi-finals despite leading the match against the eventual gold medallist Kunlavut Vitidsarn.

The 31-year-old entered the World Championships with little to no hope of winning a medal due to an extremely tough draw. However, his grit and determination were on display as he soared high to bag the bronze. The veteran achieved his career-best ranking of world number six. After his exceptional showing at the World Championships, he jumped three places from world number nine.

Although his China Open campaign ended in a major disappointment, Prannoy will be eyeing the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. His primary aim will be to bag a medal in that event as well. He will have his task cut out as it won’t be easy by any sense of imagination.

Meanwhile, Priyanshu Rajawat also lost out in the opening round of the China Open as he went down against Malaysia’s Shesar Hisar 21-13, 26-24. So it has not been a good start for the Indian shuttlers in China. The women’s doubles pairing of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also crashed out of the tournament against home favourites Jia Yifan and Chen Qingchen 21-18, 21-11.

Now all eyes will be on Lakshya Sen, who will look to improve his performance. Meanwhile, India’s star duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will also aim to do better than their quarterfinal finish at the World Championships.