Valiant Saina Nehwal, HS Prannoy lose in Badminton Asia Championships semis

Both Saina Nehwal and HS Prannoy fought valiantly before losing in their respective semi-finals at the Badminton Asia Championships on Saturday.

Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and HS Prannoy fought valiantly but eventually went down in their respective semi-final matches at the Badminton Asia Championships in Wuhan on Saturday to settle for bronze medals.

India's Saina Nehwal lost in the women’ singles semi-finals at the Badminton Asia Championships in Wuhan on Saturday. (AFP)

Saina went down 25-27, 19-21 in 45 minutes to top seed Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei in the women’s singles last-four clash.

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This was the Indian’s ninth consecutive loss to the world No.2, who in total picked up her 11th victory over Saina in 16 outings. But not before Saina made the top seed work quite hard for the win.

Tai will next face Chinese sixth seed Chen Yufei in the final on Sunday.

A short while earlier, Prannoy went down 16-21, 18-21 in 52 minutes to reigning Olympic champion Chen Long of China in the men’s singles semi-final.

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This was Prannoy’s fourth loss in five meetings against the third seed.

Both shuttlers will return with a bronze medal each.