Taipei [Taiwan], July 30 (ANI): India’s HS Prannoy suffered a second-round exit at the Taipei Open 2026 badminton tournament on Thursday while Unnati Hooda and three other Indian shuttlers progressed to the quarter-finals of the BWF Super 300 event, according to Olympics.com.
Prannoy went down 21-9, 21-19 to Hong Kong China’s Jason Gunawan in 39 minutes. The world No. 38 struggled in the opening game and, despite improving in the second, failed to push the match into a decider. The loss extends a difficult 2026 BWF World Tour campaign for Prannoy, who is yet to move beyond the second round in any tournament this year.
Gunawan, who had defeated India’s Mithun Manjunath in the opening round, has now eliminated two Indian players in successive rounds.
Notably, HS Prannoy had also suffered a first-round exit in the China Open 2026 at Changzhou, China earlier in the month.
At the Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium, Prannoy went down 21-10, 21-14 to Malaysia’s world No. 27 Leong Jun Hao in the men’s singles opening round.
Meanwhile, Unnati Hooda led India’s positive results at the Taipei Open, defeating compatriot Tanya Hemanth 21-19, 21-12 to enter the women’s singles quarter-finals. Tanvi Sharma continued her impressive form with a 21-17, 22-20 win over Indonesia’s Thalita Wiryawan, while eighth seed Devika Sihag defeated Ni Kadek Dhinda Pratiwi of Indonesia 21-16, 21-15 to also reach the last eight.
Devika and Unnati will now face each other in the quarter-finals.
In men’s singles, Kiran George kept India’s hopes alive by defeating Tharun Mannepalli 21-15, 21-16 in an all-Indian clash. However, Anmol Kharb narrowly missed out after losing 21-10, 22-20 to home favourite and second seed Lin Hsiang-ti.
India’s doubles campaign at the Taipei Open had already ended on Wednesday after Bhargav Ram Arigela and Viswa Tej Gobburu suffered an opening-round defeat. (ANI)
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