Sports Shorts: SO Bharat continue its golden run on Day 2

Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday

The SO Bharat contingent continued its good run on Day 2 of the Special Olympics by clinching a whopping 55 medals, including 14 golds, in Abu Dhabi, on Saturday.

Indian roller skaters bagged a staggering 29 medals comprising nine golds, 13 silver and two bronze.

The powerlifters of India also found the podium 23 times by the end of the second day of competitions.

The cyclist fetched two yellow metals while the judokas brought in two more gold medals.

The athletics and swimming contingents, who are competing in Dubai, were also successful in winning eight medals.

The total tally of the country now stands at 70 medals, including 18 golds, 22 silver and 30 bronze.

Praneeth stuns Olympic champion to move to Swiss Open final

Indian shuttler B Sai Praneeth toppled world number five and reigning Olympic champion Chen Long to breeze into the final of the men's singles event of the Swiss Open, in Basel.

World number 22 Praneeth initially faced stiff resistance from the former Chinese world number one and Rio Olympic gold medallist before prevailing 21-18, 21-13 in the semifinal clash.

While the first game was tight, the Indian shuttler completely dominated the second, ending the match in 46 minutes.

It was Praneeth's first win over Long in three attempts. he had lost to him at the Indonesian Master early this year and at Asian Championship last year in April.

Praneeth will now fight it out with top seed Chinese Shi Yuki in the final, which will be his first since the Thailand Open victory in June 2017.

P Kashyap, Ajay Jayaram, Sameer Verma and Shubankar Dey also featured in the men's singles but none could go beyond the second round.

Lakshya crashes out in semifinals of China Masters

Promising Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen fought valiantly before crashing out of the China Masters after suffering a three-game defeat in the men's singles semifinals.

Lakshya, looked upon as the next big thing in Indian men's badminton, fought tooth and nail for one hour and two minutes before losing 9-21, 21-12, 17-21 against China's Weng Hongyang.

Hongyang will play compatriot Liu Haichao in the final on Sunday.

Haichao got the better of Malaysia's Iskandar Zulkarnain 21-9, 20-22, 21-16 in another engrossing semifinal contest.