Sai Praneeth settles for bronze after losing to Momota at BWF World Championship
Basel (Switzerland): B Sai Praneeth's impressive run at the BWF World Championships ended as he succumbed to defending champion Kento Momota in a lop-sided semifinal to settle for bronze here on Saturday.
Praneeth's attacking game couldn't dent the defence of an in-form Momota as he went down to the Japanese World No. 1 13-21 8-21 in 41 minutes.
Notwithstanding the loss, Praneeth still achieved the rare distinction of becoming the first Indian male shuttler in 36 years to win a medal in the prestigious tournament.
Prakash Padukone was the first to win a men's singles World Championships medal -- a bronze -- in the 1983 edition.
Praneeth made a good start to his semifinal clash, opening up a slender 5-3 lead. However, Momota slowly found his rhythm and turned the tables by entering the interval with a small 11-10 advantage.
The left-handed Japanese stepped up after the break, reeling off four points to surge to 15-10. Praneeth couldn't find the winners regularly and committed too many unforced errors to allow Momota widen the gap between them.
At 12-18, the Indian found the net thrice to hand over the opening game to the Japanese.
Praneeth was more competitive initially in the second game as he was tied 2-2 with his opponent but the Indian failed to lift the hard-hitting returns of Momota, sending the shuttle wide or at the net.
While Praneeth was erroneous, Momota was consistent and it reflected in the scoreline, as the Japanese quickly jumped to 9-2.
A precise smash from Praneeth helped him to take a point but he misjudged a shuttle at the backline and then hit the nets as Momota grabbed a 11-3 advantage in the mid-game interval.
Praneeth's struggle continued after the break as he couldn't put pressure on his fancied rival, who rode on his resolute defence to dominate the rallies.
At 15-5, Momota made a rare error when he sent the shuttle long but his quick backhand reflex near the net earned him the serve again.
A cross-court smash at Praneeth's backhand took Momota to 19-8 and he grabbed 12 match points when the Indian hit the nets again.
Praneeth then went wide as Momota raised his fist in celebration.
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Narine stars as KKR beat LSG by 98 runs, go to top of table
Lucknow, May 5: Sunil Narine's sparkling fifty and a collective effort by the bowlers fashioned Kolkata Knight Riders' 98-run win over Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL here on Sunday.
Deciding to bowl first didn't go as per plan for LSG as KKR became the first team to cross the 200-run mark at the Ekana stadium.
Proving his worth with the willow once again, Narine (81 off 38 balls) went on a six-hitting spree, blasting seven maximums and six fours to take the visitors to 235/6.
Chasing an imposing total, LSG batters had to go from the word go but the hosts found it hard to get the big shots and were eventually bundled out for 137 in 16.1 overs.
Within the first 10 overs, LSG had lost half the side including skipper KL Rahul (25), Arshin Kulkarni (9), Deepak Hooda (5) and big hitters Marcus Stoinis (36) and Nicholas Pooran (10).
Ashton Turner hit some lusty blows and looked in mood to showcase his batting prowess but the Australian was supremely unlucky as an inside edge deflected off his boot with Varun Chakravarthy completing a caught and bowled.
With the win KKR moved to the top of the table. They have 16 points, the same as Rajasthan Royals but have played one game more.
LSG, on the other hand, dropped out of the top four to the fifth spot with 12 points from 11 games. Their Net Run Rate also took a massive hit going down from 0.094 to -0.371.
Earlier, the in-form Narine, who was dropped twice in the space of two balls, smoked five boundaries in five balls, setting the tone for the KKR innings.
First, he hammered back-to-back fours off Naveen-ul-Haq in the last two balls of the third over. He then attacked the offside, hitting three boundaries on the trot off Mohsin Khan in the fourth over.
Narine and Phil Salt (32) gave the two-time champions the explosive start they have come to expect from the duo. Together they put up a quick 61-run stand before Naveen-ul Haq took the pace off the ball to send the Englishman packing.
Medium pacer Yash Thakur then stemmed the flow of runs in the final over of the powerplay, giving away only two runs as KKR reached 70/1.
However, the unperturbed Narine continued his onslaught and brought up his fifty off 27 deliveries with a cheeky late dab that sent the ball rolling past short third.
He took a particular liking to Marcus Stoinis, sending the ball over the fence three times in the 11th over.
But Ravi Bishnoi, on whose bowling Narine was dropped twice before, was third time lucky as he put an end to the all-rounder's spectacular innings.
The LSG bowlers were able to rein in the KKR batters as they kept taking wickets.
Naveen-ul Haq got rid of Andre Russell (12) before Yudhvir Singh, who came as a concussion sub for Mohsin Khan, picked up young Angkrish Raghuvanshi's (32) wicket in the next over.
The Afghan pacer swung back into action to account for the big-hitting Rinku Singh (16) while Thakur removed Shreyas Iyer (23).
But Ramandeep Singh's unbeaten 25 off 6 balls took KKR past the 230-run mark.
