Sai Praneeth enters semis in New Zealand Open Badminton Championship

Even as third seed Praneeth marched on, Sameer Verma, seeded fifth, was shown the door by top seed and two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan of China. Praneeth hardly broke a sweat as he took just 28 minutes to quell the challenge of Sri Lanka’s Niluka Karunaratne 21-7 21-9 in the quarter-finals.

Praneeth will next face second seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in the semifinals. However, it was curtains for Verma as he failed to counter Lin Dan’s attacking game and vast experience to lose 19-21 9-21 in another semifinal duel.

Lin Dan will be up against qualifier Kwang Hee Heo of Korea in the other semi-final. Besides, fifth seeded Indian men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy also crashed out after losing in the quarter-finals.

They were defeated in straight games 10-21 15-21 by fourth seeds Bodin Isara and Nipitphon Phuangphuapet of Thailand.