Praneeth loses in quarters of Russia Open

Young Indian shuttler B Sai Praneeth suffered a straight-game loss against second seed Vladimir Malkov in the quarterfinals of the Russia Grand Prix in Vladivostok today.

The Sixth seeded Indian fought hard before going down 21-23 17-21 to Malkov in a 42-minute men's singles competition at the Sport Hall.

Praneeth had defeated local player Stanislav Pukhov 21-13 21-4 in the round of 16, while he got a bye and a walkover in the first two rounds respectively.

Praneeth was left to do the catching up job right from the start after Malkov opened up a 4-1 lead early on in the match.
 

The Indian managed to claw back at 18-18 after a five-point brust. But Malkov staved off the challenge to pocket the first game.

In the second game, Praneeth once again fought hard to make it 14-13 after lagging behind 8-13 but Malkov kept his nose ahead to reach the next round.