Praneeth reaches fil; Sai crashes out

Bangkok, June 3: India had a mixed day at the $1,20,000 Thailand Open Grand Prix badminton tourment after third seed B. Sai Praneeth stormed into the men's singles fil while Olympics bronze medallist Sai Nehwal crashed out of the women's singles semi-fils here on Saturday.

Praneeth booked his place in the fil after registering an easy 21-11 21-15 win against local player Panwit Thongnuam while second seed Sai went down rrowly 19-21 18-21 to local shuttler Busan Ongbamrungphan.

In the opening game, after splitting the first four points, World No. 24 Praneeth carved out a three-point lead to go in front 6-3. From then on, the Indian started domiting to go into the break with a 11-7 lead.

After the break, Praneeth kept the pressure on his opponent taking the first three points to go in front 14-7 and even though the Thai maged to win a few points Praneeth maged to seal the first game 21-11.

Thongnuam came out fighting in the second game and though Praneeth eked out a rrow 6-4 lead, the home favourite levelled things up at 6-6. The Thai then picked up the next three points to take the lead, but at the break, there was nothing to choose between the duo with Praneeth maging a slender 11-10 lead. Thongnuam maged to stay in touch for the first few points after the break, before Praneeth sealed an easy win with the scoreboard reading 21-11 21-15 to close the tie in just 36 minutes.

Praneeth will now take on fourth seed Jothan Christie -- who registered a 21-9 21-18 win over Malaysia's Joo Ven Soong in the other semi-fil match -- in the summit clash on Sunday. IANS