Nepal’s teen prodigy Prince Dahal has crashed out from the men’s singles semi-final round of the Annapurna Nepal International Series badminton championships currently underway at the Dashrath Stadium Covered Hall in Kathmandu.

The 16-year-old Dahal suffered a 21-17, 21-13 loss against India’s Swarnaraj Bora, the tournament fourth seed, in the first semifinal match played today. Dahal was the only Nepali player to make into semi-final of singles category. Though Dahal was leading 17-13 at a point in the first set, the Indian staged heroic comeback to stun the home favourite.

“I conceded too many negative points and the opponent was also better than me,” said Dahal who also became the first Nepali shuttler to make into the semi-final of international series in the men’s singles open category. “He gained confidence after he overcame 13-17 deficit,” said the ninth grader adding that playing against a tough opponent like Bora will shape him to become a better player in the future.

In another semifinal, Seng Zoe Yeoh of Malaysia dispatched India’s Kartikey Gulshan Kumar in straight sets of 21-13, 21-12.

The women’s singles saw Malvika Bansod of India storm past Yu Chieh of Taiwan 21-6, 22-20 while her compatriot Gayatri Gopichand secured her berth in the final following walkover by Yuri Nakamura of Japan.

Nepal had yet another heartbreak as the duo of Ratnajit Tamang and Dipesh Dhami, the top two ranked shuttler of the country, failed to capitalise on their first set win in the men’s doubles semi-finals. They went down 18-21, 21-10, 23-21 to Izzat Farhan Azhar and Zachary Chiong Shen Sia of Malaysia. The Malaysians will play against Rohan Kapoor and Saurabh Sharma of India who caused yet another disappointment for hosts Nepal having secured an identical 21-13, 21-13 win against Bijeet Thapa Magar and Bikash Shrestha.

In all Nepal women’s doubles semi-finals, Pooja Shrestha and Nangsal Tamang thumped Nita Lamshal and Sima Rajnbanshi 21-15, 21-14 while the team of Jessica Gurung and Anu Maya Rai, despite losing the second set, edged past Sita Rai and Samjhana Sharma 21-15, 15-21, 21-8.

The Nepali mixed doubles team of Ratnajit Tamang and Nangshal Tamang bowed out from the semi-final round as they could not provide continuity to the spirited comeback of second set. They eventually lost the match 21-17, 18-21, 21-12 against Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Dewangan of India. In another mixed doubles last-four clash, Bowornwatanuwong Phuttaporn of Thailand and Ririn Amelia of Indonesia fought for a three set win of 21-16, 16-21, 21-19 against Saurabh Sharma and Anoushka Parikh of India.