Double Olympic medallist P.V. Sindhu and rising talent Priyanshu Rajawat were knocked out in the pre-quarterfinals of their respective events at the Badminton Asia Championships on Thursday.
Sindhu, 29, ranked 17th in the world, put up a strong fight but ultimately fell 12-21, 21-16, 16-21 to world number four and third seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in a women’s singles contest that lasted one hour and six minutes.
In the men’s singles, Rajawat suffered a straight-games defeat, losing 14-21, 17-21 to world number seven and fifth seed Kodai Naraoka of Japan.
Kiran George also saw his campaign come to an end in the men’s singles event, going down 21-19, 13-21, 16-21 against world number five and fifth seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand.
With these results, India’s challenge in the men’s and women’s singles events has concluded.
However, there was good news in mixed doubles, as Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto advanced to the quarterfinals with a hard-fought 12-21, 21-16, 21-18 victory over Ye Hong Wei and Nicole Gonzales Chan of Chinese Taipei.
Kapila and Crasto will next face fifth seeds Chun Man Tang and Ying Suet Tse of Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, the other Indian mixed doubles pair, Ashith Surya and Amrutha Pramuthesh, exited the tournament following an 11-21, 14-21 defeat to top seeds Jiang Zhen Bang and Wei Ya Xin of China.
Later in the day, Hariharan Amsakarunan and Ruban Kumar Rethinasabapathi will take on the sixth-seeded Malaysian duo of Aaron Chia and Wooi Yik Soh in the men’s doubles competition.
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