Prannoy, Sameer lose in French Open

Indian shuttlers HS Prannoy and Sameer Verma suffered contrasting losses to bow out of the mens singles competition at the French Open Super 750 tournament here.

Prannoy, a Thomas Cup winner, went down fighting against Chinas Lu Guang Zu 19-21 22-20 19-21, while Sameer lost 18-21 11-21 to Thailands Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the pre-quarterfinals stage on Thursday night.

Kidambi Srikanth also crashed out of the tournament after losing to Rasmus Gemke of Denmark 21-19 12-21 19-21 in a match that lasted one hour and 15 minutes. Seventh-seeded Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are the lone surviving Indians in the tournament.

The duo beat the Malaysian pair of Man Wei Chong and Kai Wun Tee 21-16 21-14 in a round of 16 match and will face top-seeded Japanese pair of Takuro Hohi and Yugo Kobayashi in the quarterfinals later in the day.

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