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Picture Credit: Twitter

Indonesia Open is not going as planned for the Indian contingent as three more players were knocked out of the Super 1000 tournament on Thursday (16 June). Men’s singles player Sameer Verma, women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponappa/N Sikki Reddy, and the men’s doubles pair of MR Arjun/Dhruv Kapila lost their respective pre-quarterfinal matches. However, HS Prannoy kept the hopes for a medal alive.

Prannoy beat his Hong Kong counterpart in straight games to progress to the quarterfinals. Coming to the match after beating compatriot Lakshya Sen, Prannoy completely dominated the World no12 Ng Ka Long Angus in both games. While he took the first game 21-11, the Indian shuttler took the second game 21-18.

Prannoy showed excellent control and moved swiftly to build a brilliant lead. A few errors towards the end allowed the Hong Kong player to get to double digits but Indian closed out the opener soon after.

The second game was a close affair, with Angus staying within trailing 9-11 at the break. But Prannoy increased his actions again to win five of the next seven points, before going on to achieve an outstanding triumph.

He will now face Danish shuttler Rasmus Gemke in his quarterfinals match on Friday.

Meanwhile, earlier in the day another singles player Sameer Verma was completely taken aback by Malaysian shuttler and sixth-seed Lee Zii Jia. It was never going to be an easy contest for the Indian considering Lee Zii Jia’s agility on the court. Verma lost the match in straight games of 10-21, 13-21 in 41 minutes.

Arjun-Dhruv duo finds it tough against Chinese pair

Coming to the double's pairs of India, it was an ordinary show in both men and women’s categories. While the Arjun-Dhruv duo lost to the Chinese pair of Yu Chen Liu and Ou Xuan Yi, the Ponappa-Sikki Reddy pair lost to Chen Qing Chen and Yi Fan Jia. Both the pairs lost their matches in straight games. The men’s doubles pair of Arjun and Dhruv lost 19-21, 15-21 in 41 minutes. Meanwhile, the Ashwini Ponappa/N Sikki Reddy pair lost 16-21, 13-21 in 39 minutes.