Singapore Open: India's campaign ends with Srikanth's round of 16 loss
India's Srikanth Kidambi competes against Thailand's Kunlavut Vitidsarn during their men's singles group stage match on Thursday
Kallang (Singapore): India's campaign at the Singapore Open Super 750 badminton tournament came to an end after Kidambi Srikanth lost his Round of 16 men's singles match against Chia Hao Lee of Chinese Taipei, here on Thursday.
World no 23 Srikanth, who defeated Thailand's Kantaphon Wangcharoen in the first round, suffered 15-21, 19-21 straight games loss at the hands of the world no 42 Taipei shuttler, in what was the pair's first meeting.
Earlier in the day, young singles' player Priyanshu Rajawat and the doubles duo of M.R. Arjun and Dhruv Kapila crashed out after their respective second round losses.
Rajawat, who caused a big upset by beating World No.15 Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan in the opening round, went down to another Japanese, Kodai Naraoka in straight games at the Singapore Indoor Stadium 1. The 21-year-old Indian lost 17-21, 16-21 to Naraoka in a 47-minute encounter in the BWF World Tour Super 750 event.
The doubles combine of Arjun and Dhruv were ousted by England's experienced Ben Lane and Sean Vendy 15-21, 19-21 at Singapore Indoor Stadium.