Srikanth Knocked out of Hong Kong Open
A profligate Kidambi Srikanth was knocked out of the USD 400,000 Hong Kong Open following a straight-game semifinal defeat to local favourite Lee Cheuk Yiu here on Saturday.
Hong Kong, Nov 16 (PTI) A profligate Kidambi Srikanth was knocked out of the USD 400,000 Hong Kong Open following a straight-game semifinal defeat to local favourite Lee Cheuk Yiu here on Saturday.
The former world no 1 squandered six game points in the second game to suffer 9-21, 23-25 in contest that lasted 42-minutes.
It was his first semifinal appearance since making the last four at the India Open Super 500. He had finished runner-up at the event.
Srikanth fell back early in the opening game with Lee opening up a 6-1 lead. The Indian tried to catch up but failed to narrow the gap.
In the second game, Srikanth stepped up the gas taking an early 5-1 lead. However, Lee soon restored parity.
The shuttlers fought neck and neck with Srikanth surging ahead but the Indian lost momentum, eventually conceding the match.
Srikanth had beaten the 23-year-old Lee in straight games at the India Open last year in their only career meeting.
With Srikanth's defeat, the Indian challenge here also came to an end.
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)