Powered by
Sponsored by

Tokyo Olympics: Sai Praneeth crashes out after losing to Mark Caljouw

Praneeth had lost his first game against Israel's Misha Zilberman

sai-praneeth-pti Sai Praneeth in action | Reuters

India's B. Sai Praneeth's maiden Olympics campaign came to a disappointing end after he lost to Mark Caljouw of Netherlands in 40 minutes for his second defeat in Group D on Wednesday.

Praneeth went down 14-21, 14-21 to Caljouw who topped the group to qualify for the knockout stage. Praneeth was inconsistent and did not have answers to his opponent's precise returns.

"I was not confident enough. I was trying everything but there was no confidence in my strokes. I came on the court to win but unfortunately it was not a good performance for me. I started well in the second and then lost the points," Praneeth said.

Praneeth, a 2019 World Championship bronze medallist, had earlier lost his maiden Olympic game against Israel's Misha Zilberman.

On Tuesday, shuttlers Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy failed to qualify for the men's doubles quarterfinals at the Tokyo Olympics despite winning two matches in their group. The Indian duo had emerged victorious against the England pair of Ben Lane and Sean Vendy in their final Group A match but still missed out on quarterfinals after the three pairs ended with same points and games won were considered to identify the qualifiers.

-with PTI inputs

📣 The Week is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TheWeekmagazine) and stay updated with the latest headlines