Malang (Indonesia): Defending champion H.S. Prannoy was knocked out of the $120,000 Indonesian Masters Grand Prix Gold on Thursday when he lost his men’s singles second round contest to Chinese shuttler Shi Yuqi here.
Shi took 54 minutes to outplay and oust third seeded Prannoy 21-12, 20-22, 21-13 at the Gedung Graha Cakrawala. It was a surprise loss for the 23-year-old, who went down to Shi, ranked 105 places below Prannoy at No.135, in their first ever encounter.
Meanwhile, women’s singles top seed P.V. Sindhu beat local girl Wulan Cahya Utami Sukoputri 21-12, 21-9 in 24 minutes to proceed to the quarterfinals. World No.12 Sindhu will next play China’s He Bingjiao for a place in the semis.
Men’s singles top seed Kidambi Srikanth and eighth seed R.M.V. Gurusaidutt also won their respective second round matches and will play their third rounds later in the day.
While World No.9 Srikanth beat local boy Saputra Vicky Angga 21-14, 17-21, 25-23 in an hour and five minutes, Gurusaidutt overcame Singapore’s Kean Yew Loh 21-19, 19-21, 21-15 in 59 minutes.
