Vietnam Open 2022 badminton: B Sai Praneeth's poor form continues, crashes out in second round

Ho Chi Minh City [Vietnam], September 29 (ANI): B Sai Praneeth, a former world championship bronze medalist, continues 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 in the men's singles competition.
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 world No. 2 Anupama Upadhyaya and India's Thomas Cup-winning team member Priyanshu Rajawat crashed out after losing their second-round matches on Wednesday.
Vietnam Open 2022 badminton: Other India results on Day 3
Women's singles
Gadde Ruthvika Shivani lost to Vietnam's Thi Trang Vu 15-21, 21-18, 21-17
Prerana Neeluri lost to Japan's Aya Ohori 21-3, 21-7
Ira Sharma lost to Malaysia's Goh Jin Wei 21-18, 21-10
Rituparna Das lost to Vietnam's Thi Phuong Thuy Tran 21-15, 21-16
Mixed doubles
Mauryan Kathiravan-Kuhan Balashri lost to Indonesia's Muhammad Reza Pahlevi Isfahani-Melati Daeva Oktavianti 21-17, 21-8
Navaneeth Bokka-Priya Konjengbam lost to Indonesia's Zachariah Josiahno Sumanti-Hediana Julimarbela 21-14, 21-11
Men's singles
Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian lost to Taiwan's Chia Hao Lee 21-17, 21-9
Meiraba Luwang Maisnam lost to Taiwan's Chi Yu Jen 21-8 22-20
Kiran Kumar Mekala lost to Malaysia's Cheam June Wei 21-15, 21-10
Harshit Aggarwal lost to Japan's Kodai Naraoka 21-15, 21-6
Women's doubles
Deethya Jagadish G-Sujith P Krishnapriya lost to Indonesia's Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma-Amalia Cahaya Pratiwi 21-8, 21-5. (ANI)