India’s challenge ends as Sindhu & Prannoy exit

NINGBO: India’s challenge at the Badminton Asia Championships ended after double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy bowed out in pre-quarterfinals of their respective events here on Thursday.

Sindhu, who is desperately seeking to rediscover her form ahead of the Paris Olympics, fought valiantly for an hour and nine minutes but was outperformed by sixth seed Han Yue of China 18-21, 21-13, 17-21. It was Sindhu’s first loss against Yue against whom she had a flawless 5-0 record before Thursday’s contest. Seventh seed Prannoy went down meekly to unseeded Lin Chun-Yi of Chinese Taipei 18-21, 11-21 in just 43 minutes.

In another Indian result, the women’s doubles combination of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa lost in the pre-quarterfinals, going down 17-21, 12-21 to third seeded Japanese pair of Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida.