Birmingham, Mar 11:
Indian male shuttlers’ campaign in the All England Badminton Championships came to a halt today with the trio of B Sai Praneeth, Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma making an exit in the second round of the singles event here.
Praneeth, who had stunned two-time Olympic silver medallist and former World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in the opening round, lost to Hans-Kristian Vittinghus of Denmark in a three-setter to bow out of the prestigious tournament.
The Indian raised visions of another upset win as he took the first set but later fizzled out in the subsequent two to lose the match 21-12 11-21 16-21.
The highest ranked Indian Srikanth was no match for fourth seed Kento Momota of Japan as he lost 10-21 13-21 in a lopsided match.
Qualifier Sameer Verma put a good fight before losing to eighth seed Tian Houwei of China in a three-setter. Just like Praneeth, Verma took the first set but squandered the advantage as he lost 21-10 12-21 19-21. (PTI)
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