China Open: Srikanth, Sindhu lose in quarters to end India’s campaign

India’s campaign at the USD one million China Open BWF World Tour Super 1000 tournament drew to an end following the defeats of its top-ranked shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth in the quarter-finals on Friday.

In contrasting defeats, Srikanth went down in straight sets without a fight losing 9-21, 11-21 against Kento Momota of Japan in a lopsided contest. Sindhu though put up a tough fight bouncing back from a set down to take the game to a decider, before eventually going down 11-21, 21-11, 15-21 against China’s Chen Yufei to bow out of the competition.

Seeded third, Sindhu, who struggled her way into the quarters lost the opening set 11-21 failing to put up a tough fight against the fifth-ranked Chinese. She, however, came back in the second set to take the game into the decider. But Yufei was relentless and despite the third game being a close affair, the Chinese raced her way to a 21-15 victory to book her place in the semis.

Also Read: China Open: PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth scrape through into quarter-finals

Meanwhile, Srikanth, who prior to this contest had a 3-7 head-to-head record against Momota, failed to better the record losing 9-21 11-21 to the world No.2. It was Srikanth’s third defeat to the Japanese in the ongoing year following the Malaysia Open and Indonesia Open loss.

The World No.8 fell behind 1-5 in the opening exchanges but recovered well to reduce the deficit to one point standing at 4-5 with three straight points. His fightback, however, didn’t last long as Momota surged to a huge 19-6 lead before pocketing the first game.

It was the same in the second game as Momota moved from a one-point advantage at 4-3 to a 10-point gap at 13-3 after clinching nine straight points. Srikanth tried his best but the gap was too big to produce a come-back and he eventually went down 11-21 to end his stay at the tournament.

Also Read: Virat Kohli, Mirabai Chanu to be bestowed with Khel Ratna Award on September 25

Image Source: NDTV Sports