Saina & Praneeth ousted in QF of Macau GPG

SAINA NEHWAL AND SAI PRANEETH were the only two Indian shuttlers who qualified for the quarter-finals at the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold. But two Chinese shuttlers ended their campaign in the quarters.

Saina was defeated by Zhang Yiman 21-12, 21-17 while Praneeth was trumped by Zhao Jun Peng 21-19, 21-9 respectively.

Since the knee surgery and her comeback, Saina has been showing signs of competition and fight. She now has two back-to-back QF berths, before this, at the Hong Kong Open. Her efforts to go out there and put up a fight is commendable. She now has enough time for rest and training and get back to her top performance.

On the other hand, Praneeth enjoyed a great run in the tournament until this match. Even in the quarter-final match, the first game was a closely contested one but just by a whisker Zhao won while in the second game the latter showed his dominant side.

Other Indian shuttlers like Sameer Verma and HS Prannoy were out after the first round. Prannoy had to withdraw during the game as his back injury didn't allow him to continue. Parupalli Kashyap was out after losing in the second round and so did men's doubles pair of Manu Attri/Sumeeth Reddy.

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