Srikanth, Sindhu and Prannoy.
Basel: Setting a major disappointment for India, three of the front-running shuttlers crashed out of the Swizz Open 2023 tournament here in a row. When two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu got out on Friday, former Men's World No 1 Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy fell in the Round of 16 stages (the second round) on Thursday, IANS reported.
Further, Mithun Manjunath also falling at the pre-quarter stage leaves the men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in the game.
Sindhu, the defending champion, lost to Indonesia's Putri Kusuma Wardani 21-15, 12-21, 21-18 in a hard-fought Round of 16 encounters. Sindhu, who overcame Jenjira Stadelmann of Switzerland in the opening round, bowed out on Thursday in a 59-minute encounter at St Jakobshalle here.
World No. 9 and fifth seed HS Prannoy lost 21-8, 21-8 to the unseeded Christo Popov of France. Prannoy had defeated All England Open finalist Shi Yu Qi of China to advance into men's singles pre-quarterfinals before slumping to defeat on Thursday.
He joined Kidambi Srikanth and Mithun Manjunath on the sidelines.
Srikanth, the world No. 20 in the latest badminton rankings, went down 22-20, 21-17 to Hong Kong's Cheuk Yiu Lee. Earlier, Mithun Manjunath crashed out after losing 21-19, 21-19 to Chia Hao Lee of Chinese Taipei.
However, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won 21-12, 17-21, 28-26 against Chinese Taipei pair Fang-Chih Lee and Fang-Jen Lee and moved into the quarter-finals. They remain as the Indian challenge at this edition of the Swiss Open badminton tournament.