Tokyo Olympics: Sai Praneeth crashes out after losing in second round

India shuttler Sai Praneeth lost his second Group D match against Mark Caljouw of the Netherlands in the Tokyo Olympics at the Musashino Forest Plaza Court 3 on Wednesday. Caljouw defeated Praneeth 21-14, 21-14 in straight games.

With this loss, Praneeth has failed to qualify for the next stage as he lost both his group stage matches. In the first game, Praneeth was the one in the lead, but Caljouw staged a comeback and he took the first game 21-14.

A similar story unfolded in the second game, as Praneeth was not able to capitalise on a good start, and in the end, he ended up losing the match in straight games.

END of misery for Sai Praneeth as he goes down to Mark Caljouw (WR 29)14-21, 14-21 in 2nd Group match
Sai finished last (3rd) in the Group and his #Tokyo2020 campaign is over with both losses coming against shuttlers ranked lower than him. #Tokyo2020withIndia_AllSports pic.twitter.com/kYANHktKLC — India_AllSports (@India_AllSports) July 28, 2021

Earlier on Wednesday, star shuttler PV Sindhu defeated Hong Kong's Ngan Yi Cheung in her second Group J match of the Tokyo Olympics here at the Musashino Forest Plaza Court 2 on Wednesday.

Sindhu defeated Ngan Yi Cheung in straight sets 21-9, 21-16 to cruise into the elimination round of women's singles.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, India men's doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy defeated Great Britain's duo of Ben Lane and Sean Vendy in a crucial final Group A Play Stage game. The Indian duo defeated Lane and Vendy 21-17, 21-19 in their final group stage match.