ORLEANS (France): India’s M R Arjun and Dhruv Kapila crashed out in the second round at the Orleans Masters 2024 badminton tournament after losing to China’s Huang Di and Liu Yi.
The Indian pair of Arjun and Dhruv suffered a defeat against China’s Huang and Liu by 21-15, 21-17 in the round of 16 match.
Arjun and Kapila had full dominance over their opponents and were leading 10-7 until Huang-Liu Yi made a comeback and built a five-point lead at 18-13 and ended the first set with a win.
In the second set, the Indian pair tried to make a comeback but conceded a few points in the early minutes and lost the match after the mid-set break. The game lasted for 36 minutes.
Meanwhile, the Indian men’s doubles pair of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Sai Pratheek K advanced to the quarter-finals after defeating French players Mael Cattoen and Lucas Renoir by 21-14, 21-9.
The Indian pair will play against the Danish pair of Andreas Sondergaard and Jesper Toft on Friday to confirm their berth in the semi-finals.
It was not a day for Indian shuttlers to cherish, as the rest of the other players were knocked from the tournament. Sathish Kumar Karunakaran in men’s singles, Anupama Upadhyaya in women’s singles along with the mixed doubles teams of Sathish Kumar Karunakaran-Aadya Variyath and Ashith Surya-Amrutha Pramuthesh were crashed out in the round of 16.
Anupama conceded defeat against Japan’s Hina Akechi by 22-20, 15-21, 10-21. Sathish lost to Japan’s Yushi Tanaka by 21-19, 21-7. (ANI)