On Saturday, Sai Praneeth qualified for the finals beating Pannawit Thongnuam of Thailand 21-11 21-15 in their men’s singles semifinal. The match lasted for 36 minutes.
While it was a disappointing day for Olympic medalist Saina Nehwal. Saina, who faltered in the last-four stage of the women’s singles event to bow out of the USD 120000 Thailand Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Bangkok. She lost to Thai Busanan Ongbamrungphan in straight games by the score of 19-21 18-21 in a match that lasted for 53 minutes.
Ranked 24th in the world, Praneeth will face 19-year-old Indonesian Jonatan Christie in the finals, who defeated Joo Ven Soong of Malaysia 21-9 21-18 in his 34-minute semifinal clash.
Praneeth started on a strong note and went into the first break with a four-point lead. From there on, he did not let his Thai opponent make a recovery and his victory was smooth.
Earlier, Sai Praneeth had won the Singapore Open in April, his maiden Super Series victory, defeating compatriot Kidambi Srikanth.
