French Open: Sai Praneeth goes down fighting

Sai Praneeth, who had won the Canada Open Grand Prix in July, lost 21-15 8-21 19-21 to Lee Hyun Il in a match that lasted almost an hour at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin last night.

Sai Praneeth, despite playing at full stretch, went down in the deciding game against Lee Hyun Il in French Open.

B. Sai Praneeth suffered a narrow defeat against South Korea's Lee Hyun Il in the opening round at the USD 300,000 French Open Super Series here.

Praneeth, who had won the Canada Open Grand Prix in July, lost 21-15 8-21 19-21 to Lee in a match that lasted almost an hour at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin last night.

Praneeth fought back from 6-9 down and won eight straight points that helped him pocket the first game.

But Lee changed gears in the second game, resisting Praneeth's charge.

In the decider, Praneeth was 7-4 ahead but Lee turned the tables to go 12-10. It was nip and tuck to 19-19 until Lee closed the contest with two winners.

Olympic silver medallist P. V. Sindhu and Swiss Open champion H. S. Prannoy are the only Indians left in the competition.

Sixth seed Sindhu will face He Bingjiao of China, while Prannoy will take on Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen, seeded fifth.