Bad form continue to haunt PV Sindhu as she was knocked out of the Australian Open Badminton while HS Prannoy stunned top seed Anthony Sinisuka Ginting to set up an all-India semifinals in Sydney on Friday.
HS Prannoy beat Indonesian world No. 2, Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, and in semifinals will face compatriot Priyanshu Rajawat, who
progressed at the expense of senior compatriot Kidambi Srikanth.
World no 17 Sindhu, and fifth seed in the tournament, lost in straight games to world No. 12 Beiwen Zhang 12-21-17-21 .
Two-time Olympic medalist Sindhu, who has been struggling for form this year, trailed her rival throughout the match which lasted 39 minutes. It was the Indian’s fifth loss to Zhang in 11 meetings. Interestingly Sindhu made it to the quarterfinals here beating two compatriots in the first and second round.
Meanwhile, Prannoy came from behind to upset top seed Anthony Sinisuka Ginting 16-21, 21-17, 21-14 in a marathon affair, which lasted over an hour.
World No. 9 Prannoy lost the first game handily and was trailing the Indonesian 8-7 in the second game before he turned the tables to pocket the match.
In other match,Priyanshu Rajawat, made his maiden BWF Super 500 semi-finals after beating former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth 21-13, 21-8 in a contest which lasted 30 minutes.
The 21-year-old Priyanshu Rajawat has already won the Orleans Masters BWF Super 300 title earlier this year.
The Australian Open results will count towards players’ qualifying rankings for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
