Indian shuttler B. Sai Praneeth suffered a major blow as he bowed out of the Indian Open after going down in straight games against Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei in the quarter-finals here on Friday.
Third-seed Tien Chen proved to be too good for the Praneeth, who clearly wasn't at his best, as he knocked down the Indian
21-15, 21-13 in a last-eight clash that lasted 43 minutes.
Parupalli Kashyap, another Indian in the fray, also crashed out of the tournament after slumping to a 16-21, 18-21 defeat at the hands of China's Qiao Bin in another quarter-final clash of the men's singles event.
As a result, Tien Chen will now meet Qiao Bin in the semi-finals of the tournament.
Meanwhile, star Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal will aim to book their place in the semi-finals of the women's singles event when they take on Spain's Beatriz Corrales and USA's Beiwen Zhang later today.
--ANI