World no.1 Kento Momota beat Indian shuttler Sai Praneeth in the semi-final of Japan Open 2019
After the good win against Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto in the quarter-final, Sai Praneeth lost the semi-final of Japan Open 2019.
Sai Praneeth was knocked out of the Japan Open.
He lost his semi-final match against Japan’s Kento Momota 18-21, 12-21. Kento Momota beat Praneeth in just 45 minutes.
The 26-year-old had defeated Indonesia’s Sugiarto 21-12, 21-15 in the quarter-final match. Pranneth failed to carry forward his winning momentum as he lost the semi-final match.
One day ago, Indian shuttler PV Sindhu lost her match to Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi and failed to qualify for the semis.
Sai Praneeth one-sided lost the semi-final match against world no. 1 Kento Momota on Saturday.
Kento Momota reached his 2nd successive Japan Open final. Kento Momota’s final match is on Sunday. Kento Momota will come stronger on Sunday to defend the Japan Open final.
This one-sided defeat ends Sai Praneeth’s impressive run in Japan Open 2019. Before the semi-final match, Sai Praneeth had beaten the likes of Kenta Nishimoto, Kanta Tsuneyama and Tommy Sugiarto.
Kento Momota started the match well with an 11-6 lead in the first mid-game interval of the match. After that Praneeth scores 5 straight points. Kento Momota though never let Praneeth slip away. Kento Momota kept the pressure on Praneeth with a fine display of defensive skills. In the second set of the game, Praneeth took the lead of 3 points at 9-3 but, he lost that set by 15-21.
Praneeth had become the only Indian to reach the semi-final of the Japan Open. India shuttlers will next be in action at next week’s Thailand Open Super 500 tournament in Bangkok.
