Indian shuttler suffered a three-game loss to in the semifinal of the Hong Kong Open
Kidambi Srikanth went down 17-21 21-19 6-21 to world champion Chen in a match that lasted over an hour in Kowloon
Hong Kong: India’s campaign in the Hong Kong Super Series came to an end after young shuttler Kidambi Srikanth suffered a three-game loss to top seed Chen Long of China in the semifinals of the men’s singles event of the $350,000 event, here on Saturday.Srikanth, who broke into the top 10 on Thursday following his historic win at China Open Super Series Premier, went down 17-21 21-19 6-21 to world champion Chen in a match that lasted over an hour in Kowloon.
Srikanth had lost to Chen at the BWF World Championships in August but the Indian played a better game on Saturday to clinch the second game before losing steam in the decider.In the opening game, Chen zoomed to a 10-3 lead early on and Srikanth was left to do the catching up job. He narrowed it down to a point’s lead at 16-17. Srikanth lost a few points at the net as Chen moved to the game point with a mid court smash and soon pocketed the opening game when Srikanth hit the nets again.
In the second game, Srikanth struggled with the length early on and missed a few points hitting out as Chen led 4-0. Srikanth clawed back at 8-8 with the help of a smash and then moved ahead when Chen found the net.In the decider, Srikanth committed too many unforced errors, and then buried one into the net as Chen celebrated.
( Source : PTI )
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