Rouen: The 79th ranked Indian shuttler lost to the home favourite shuttler Popov by 21-11, 21-19 in 50 minutes at the Palais des Sports arena. Playing in his first BWF final, the Indian went into the first break trailing by five points. After the resumption, Frenchman continued his charge and easily sealed the first game.

The second game was much closer as both shuttles who were meeting for the first time on tour battled it out till last. it was the Indian who was cruising towards victory as a number of unforced errors by his opponent helped him to take a healthy 12-6 lead.

Former junior European champion however mounted a huge comeback with some stunning returns and successfully defended his BWF Super 100 crown. Earlier, B Sai Praneeth, the top seed at the tournament, crashed out early in the pre-quarters.

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