<p class="title">B Sai Praneeth was the lone Indian left in fray at the New Zealand Open Badminton Championship after he entered the semifinals of the men's singles event here on Friday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Even as third seed Praneeth marched on, Sameer Verma, seeded fifth, was shown the door by top seed and two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan of China.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Praneeth hardly broke a sweat as he took just 28 minutes to quell the challenge of Sri Lanka's Niluka Karunaratne 21-7, 21-9 in the quarterfinals.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Praneeth will next face second seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in the semifinals.</p>.<p class="bodytext">However, it was curtains for Verma as he failed to counter Lin Dan's attacking game and vast experience to lose 19-21, 9-21 in another semifinal duel.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Lin Dan will be up against qualifier Kwang Hee Heo of Korea in the other semifinal.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Besides, fifth seeded Indian men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy also crashed out after losing in the quarterfinals.</p>.<p class="bodytext">They were defeated 10-21, 15-21 by fourth seeds Bodin Isara and Nipitphon Phuangphuapet of Thailand. </p>
<p class="title">B Sai Praneeth was the lone Indian left in fray at the New Zealand Open Badminton Championship after he entered the semifinals of the men's singles event here on Friday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Even as third seed Praneeth marched on, Sameer Verma, seeded fifth, was shown the door by top seed and two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan of China.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Praneeth hardly broke a sweat as he took just 28 minutes to quell the challenge of Sri Lanka's Niluka Karunaratne 21-7, 21-9 in the quarterfinals.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Praneeth will next face second seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in the semifinals.</p>.<p class="bodytext">However, it was curtains for Verma as he failed to counter Lin Dan's attacking game and vast experience to lose 19-21, 9-21 in another semifinal duel.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Lin Dan will be up against qualifier Kwang Hee Heo of Korea in the other semifinal.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Besides, fifth seeded Indian men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy also crashed out after losing in the quarterfinals.</p>.<p class="bodytext">They were defeated 10-21, 15-21 by fourth seeds Bodin Isara and Nipitphon Phuangphuapet of Thailand. </p>