Jakarta: India’s HS Prannoy upset the No. 1 seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia 21-10, 21-18 in the second round of Indonesian Open on Thursday. The Malaysian joined a growing list of high profile upset victims that included Lin Dan, Carolina Marin, Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo and Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi to exit the Indonesia Open.
Lee who won the Indonesian Open title six times (2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016) was clearly struggling in the first set, allowing Prannoy to quickly widen the gap from 6-0 to 10-3 and winning the game without much effort.
Although Lee had a 13-12 advantage in the second set, his shots seemed affected by the wind inside Jakarta Convention Centre that eventually cost him the match by losing 18-21 in the second game.
The 24-year-old Prannoy will meet Olympic champion Chen Long of China in the quarters.
Another Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth also ended on the winning side on Thursday when Srikanth defeated No. 4 seed Jan O Jorgensen from Denmark 21-15, 20-22, 21-16. He is set to take on Wang Tzu Wei of Taiwan next. Wang notched up a victory against Angus Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong 21-16, 21-18 in the second round.
The unseeded Rajiv Ouseph of England, also emerged victorious over the No. 5 seed Shi Yuqi of China 21-12, 21-15 on Thursday.
In women’s singles, Saina Nehwal was outlasted by Nitchaon Jindapol of Thailand 15-21, 21-6, 16-21; while her teammate, Olympic silver medalist P.V Sindhu was also knocked out of the tournament by Zhang Beiwen of USA, losing 21-15, 12-21, 18-21 in 54 minutes.
