India’s HS Prannoy crashed out of the BWF World Championships 2021 on Friday after losing to Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew in straight games in the men’s singles quarterfinals in Spain.

World No. 32 Prannoy looked out of sorts against his 22nd-ranked opponent and went down 14-21, 12-21 in just 43 minutes at the Carolina Marin stadium to exit the tournament.

Loh Kean Yew will now face Anger Antonsen of Denmark in the second semifinal. Antonsen progressed to the last-four after his Malaysian opponent, Lee Zii Jia, retired hurt from an injury in the deciding third game after both players won a game each.

Prannoy had pulled off an amazing win over Danish 11th seed Rasmus Gemke in the round of 16 but couldn’t produce the same kind of performance on Friday.

Prannoy was the fourth Indian and third male player from the country to reach the last-8 of the competition this year after PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth.

Prannoy and Sindhu’s campaign came to an end in the quarters while Lakshya and Srikanth booked an all-Indian showdown in the men’s singles semifinals on Saturday.

Sindhu’s title defence was ended by World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying in the women’s singles quarterfinals with a 21-17, 21-13 win. It was Sindhu’s 5th straight defeat to Tai Tzu Ying as the Taiwanese star extended her head-to-head record against the Indian shutter 15-5.

Meanwhile, Lakshya on Friday became the first Indian male shutter to secure a medal in his maiden world meet appearance after beating China’s Zhao Jun Peng 21-15, 15-21, 22-20 in an hour and 7 minutes.

The 20-year-old will face compatriot Srikanth, who became third Indian to assure a medal at the prestigious tournament after storming past Netherlands’ Mark Caljouw 21-8, 21-7.