India's rising star Nikhil Kanetkar bowed out of the BMW Open badminton championships in Duisburg, Germany, losing to Germany No 3 Jens Roch 15-11, 9-15, 15-11 in the pre-quarter-finals on Saturday.
It was a disappointing end for the southpaw from the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy. After losing the first game, he staged a fine rally to take the second and level the match scores. In the third too, he had his moments of ascendancy but grew erratic at crucial points and went down.
Had he won he would have met Roman Spitko, another German, who he beat in straight games last week in Wales.
Spitko went on to beat Jens Roch in his pre-quarter-final.
In another upset, Anders Boesen of Denmark was beaten by Dicky Palyama of the Netherlands 15-13, 15-9.