(Badminton news) Olympic 2021 Live Update: India's B Sai Praneeth suffered a demoralising straight-game defeat against lower ranked opponent. In a 40-minute encounter, Israel’s Misha Zilberman won 21-17, 21-15. The Indian badminton team is off to a tough start, having lost their first group stage match in men's singles.
Praneeth, who won bronze at the 2019 World Championships and is now ranked 15th, was too irregular in a 41-minute match against world number 47 Zilberman.
The 13th seeded Indian will next face world number 29 Mark Caljouw of the Netherlands.
Good news for India in the men’s doubles. Chinese Taipei Y Lee and CL Wang lost the match to Indian duo C Shetty and S Rankireddy. The teams each took a win in the first two games and then there was a close fight for the game that ended in 25-27 in favour of the Indian team. The Indians Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty stunned the World No. 3 Chinese Taipei's Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin in a spectacular display of strength.
Also read: Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu becomes first Indian to receive medal at the Tokyo Olympics
With inputs from PTI
