Indian player B Sai Praneeth lost to world number 23 Li Shi Feng of China in the men’s singles quarterfinals of the Thailand Open Super 300 Badminton here on Friday. Praneeth, who will be playing in the Tokyo Olympics, was leading 15-10 at one stage in the first game before going down 17-21, 23-21, 18-21. This also ended the Indian challenge in the tournament. Praneeth led 11-7 at the interval after initially trailing in the first game.
The Chinese player, however, came back after that and scored five points in a row and then won the first game. In the second game, Li was leading 16-10 at one stage but the Indian showed grit and came back brilliantly to take the match to a decider. In the deciding game, Lee came close to winning by taking an 18-12 lead but Praneeth did not give up and made it 18-19. The Chinese player then won the match by scoring two consecutive points.
