The first day of the main draw of the Hyderabad Open badminton tournament saw a huge upset as second seed B Sai Praneeth was knocked out in the second round by a 20-year-old Indonesian player ranked 173 spots below him in the world.
That’s not to say Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo is someone who should be taken lightly. He was the silver medallist at the 2016 world junior championships. But still, this was quite the coup for the Indonesian.
Sai Praneeth, who trains at the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad, even had match point against Wardoyo at 21-13, 21-19 but could not convert and ended up losing in three games.
Wardoyo dropped his racket and let out a huge roar as Sai Praneeth hit the shuttle long to give him a 13-21, 22-20, 21-12 win after 56 minutes. For the world No 169, this was probably one of the biggest wins of his career.
Sai Praneeth was understandably distraught after the match. After winning the Singapore Superseries title last year, the 26-year-old hasn’t quite been able to reproduce the same form this season. His best showing so far is a semi-final appearance at the New Zealand Open. The Hyderabad Open, where he was seeded second behind Sameer Verma, was a big chance for him to get a morale-boosting title win under his belt.
“I don’t know what happened,” the world No 23 said after his defeat on Wednesday. “I had match point and then I lost the shuttle in the lights to give away the point. That disturbed my concentration and I just made too many mistakes after that.”
Sai Praneeth has entered the Japan Open, a Super 750-level tournament, starting next week but is unsure whether he will play. “I’ll take a call later,” is all he said, while confirming that fitness was not a concern.
Sai Praneeth was not the only seeded player to bow out early. Men’s singles fourth seed P Kashyap and women’s singles seventh seed Ruthvika Shivani G both retired minutes into their matches. Both players have been plagued with injuries this year.
Earlier in the day, India’s RMV Gurusaidutt beat the third seed, Misha Zilberman of Israel, 21-11 21-14, while Rasika Raje defeated women’s singles second seed Lyanny Mainaky 21-19, 21-15.
While it cannot be categorised as an upset, India’s Lakshya Sen, who won this tournament last year, was outclassed by eighth seed Heo Kwang Hee of South Korea in straight games. The 16-year-old Indian looked completely switched off in a match that began around 10 pm and committed far too many errors, allowing the Korean world No 78 to win 21-13, 21-12. Lakshya’s brother Chirag, though, progressed to the third round after beating Siril Verma 21-15, 19-21, 21-11 in an entertaining match.
There were no major upsets in the doubles, although K Nandagopal and Gouse Shaik did take top seeds Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy into three games.
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