Kowloon,Nobember 16: Ace shuttler Kidambi Srikanth knocked out of the Hong Kong Open after losing to Japanese Kenta Nishimoto in quarterfinals today.
The Japanese registered a 21-17, 21-13 and was a first win for Kenta over the Indian ace.
Fourth-seeded Srikanth defeated Indian H S Prannoy with 18-21 30-29 21-18 and entered to the quarterfinals. Sameer Verma also qualified for the quarterfinals after his opponent, Chen Long, pulled out of competition due to injury.
Third-seeded PV Sindhu yesterday left the event after losing to South Korea’s Hyun Ji Sung with 24-26 20-22 scoreline.
So with Sindhu’s exit, India’s challenge ended in the women’s singles as Saina Nehwal had made a first-round exit.
Mixed doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa lost to Chinese Taipei’s Lee Yang and Hsu Ya Ching.
Similarly, men’s doubles pair of B Sumeeth Reddy and Manu Attri also failed to clear the second round. They lost to Chinese Taipei combination with 16-21 15-21.
Prasanta Patnaik