BANGKOK, Aug 1: Ace Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth crashed out of the Thailand Open after suffering unexpected defeats but B Sai Praneeth sailed into the quarterfinals of the men�s singles event here on Thursday.
Seventh seed Saina, who returned to action after nearly two months, squandered a game advantage to lose 21-16, 11-21, 14-21 against unseeded Sayaka Takahashi of Japan in a women�s singles second round duel that lasted 48 minutes. In the absence of PV Sindhu, who withdrew in the last minute from the event, Saina�s ouster marks the end of India�s campaign in women�s singles.
Saina had earlier made last-minute withdrawals from Indonesia Open and last week�s Japan Open because of injuries.
Later, fifth seed Srikanth too wasted a game�s lead to bow out against less-fancied Khosit Phetpradab of Thailand 21-11, 16-21, 12-21 in the second round of the men�s singles.
To add to India�s woes, unseeded Parupalli Kashyap was no match for third seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei, losing 9-21, 14-21 in just 33 minutes.
But Sai Praneeth, who reached the semifinals of Japan Open last week, continued his good form and stormed into the last-eight round with a comfortable 21-18, 21-19 win over compatriot Shubhankar Dey.
Sai Praneeth will be up against seventh seed Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan in the next round. � PTI
