Srikanth breezes into second round

Sourabh failed to cross the opening hurdle, losing to Kidambi 21-12, 21-11 in two consecutive sets. 

Kidambi, who on Tuesday shared pictures of his bleeding nose, following the ‘unacceptable’ treatment being meted out to him while conducting coronavirus tests, sealed an easy win in a match that lasted just 31 minutes. Earlier in the day, the Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty cruised into the second round of the tournament. 

The world number ten Indian pair outclassed the South Korean pair of Kim Gi Jung and Lee Yong Dae 19-21, 21-16, 21-14 in the first round of the tournament. 

The two were delighted by the win over their idol. 

“Lee Yong Dae was an idol for both of us when we were started, so it was excellent playing him today, and we are happy to get the win,” Satwiksairaj said. 

“Our strategy was to attack as much as possible, but not to hurry. We gave up some points in the first game by hurrying too much. But we always knew what we had to do,” Chirag added. 

Meanwhile, Parupalli Kashyap made an early exit after he was forced to retire midway in his opening-round match against Jason Anthony Ho-Shue of Canada. Kashyap, a former Commonwealth Games champion, was trailing 8-14 in the third game when he chose to retire as he pulled his calf muscle. 

He had lost the first game 9-21 before making a comeback to take the second 21-13. The mixed doubles pair of N Sikki Reddy and Sumeeth Reddy B also failed to cross the opening hurdle.