Praav-Sikki reach semis; Srikanth, Prannoy lose in Japan Open

Tokyo, Sep 22: India’s mixed doubles pair of Praav Jerry Chopra and N. Sikki Reddy reached the semi-fils, while the men’s singles shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and H.S. Prannoy fell in the quarter-fils of the $325,000 Japan Open Superseries here on Friday.

Praav-Sikki got the better of South Koreans Seung Jae Seo and Kim Ha 21-18, 9-21, 21-19 in 58 minutes.

The Indian pair will have a good chance to advance to the fil as they will meet Japanese qualifiers Takuro Hoki and Sayaka Hirota on Saturday.

The performance of Praav and Sikki was the only positive for India on a day which saw Prannoy and Srikanth lose. Olympic silver medallists P.V. Sindhu and Sai Nehwal lost on Thursday in the quarter-fils.

Srikanth lost to recently crowned world champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark 17-21, 17-21 in 40 minutes. Prannoy lost to Chinese second seed Shi Yuqi 15-21, 14-21 in 45 minutes.

Yuqi will meet Malaysian veteran Lee Chong Wei in the semi-fils, while the other semi-fil will be fought between third seed Axelsen and South Korean top seed Son Wan Ho, who ended Chinese veteran Lin Dan’s challenge with a 21-15, 21-15 victory.

The women’s singles semi-fils will see 2016 Olympic champion Caroli Marin of Spain taking on recently crowned world champion and local favourite Nozomi Okuhara and Chinese sixth seed He Bingjiao facing compatriot Chen Yufei. IANS