Srikanth advances to quarters as Sindhu, Prannoy go down
HONGKONG: World champion PV Sindhu exited the $400,000 Hong Kong Open in the pre-quarterfinals but Kidambi Srikanth entered the last eight for the first time in seven months after claiming a thrilling win in men’s singles here on Thursday.
It was also curtains for HS Prannoy, Sourabh Verma and 2014 Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap after they suffered contrasting losses in the second round.
World No 6 Sindhu went down 18-21, 21-11, 16-21 to world No 18 Busanan Ongbamrungphan of Thailand in an hour and nine minutes to continue her recent dismal run in the international circuit. This was Sindhu’s first loss to the Thai player in 11 meetings.
Sindhu, who claimed the World Championships gold in August, has made early exits in a series of recent tournaments in China, South Korea and Denmark.
Earlier, former world No 1 Srikanth, who slipped to 13th in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings on Tuesday, emerged as the only Indian survivor after notching a 21-11, 15-21, 21-19 win over compatriot Verma in the men’s singles second round. This was Srikanth’s second win in as many meetings against Verma.
Srikanth had last reached the quarter-finals of the Singapore Open in April.
The Guntur-born shuttler, who received a first round bye after world No 1, top seed and reigning world champion Kento Momota of Japan pulled out, will face Olympic champion Chen Long next.
The Chinese holds a 6-1 advantage over Srikanth in career meetings.
Earlier, HS Prannoy suffered a 12-21, 19-21 loss to sixth seed Indonesian Jonatan Christie in the second round. This was Prannoy’s third loss in four meetings against the Asian Games champion.
Kashyap played his heart out before going down narrowly to world No 2 Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei. He lost 21-12, 21-23, 10-21 in a match that lasted exactly an hour.
In other results, fourth seeded Japanese pair of Arisa Higashino and Yuta Watanabe beat Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa 21-19, 21-12 in 42 minutes in mixed doubles.