Japan Open | India's challenge ends with Kidambi Srikanth losing to Korea’s Lee Dong

India’s top-ranked men’s singles shuttler - Srikanth, was surprisingly defeated by Korea’s Lee Dong Keun in the quarterfinal encounter today. Seventh-seeded Srikanth began on a positive note and was up 7-4 but Dong Keun fought back to make it 10-10 at the midway break of the first game. Srikanth opened a narrow lead and held it till late in the game but the Korean refused to give up and again levelled the scores 19-19. The Indian kept his calm to win back-to-back points and close out the first game 21-19.

However, Dong showed some character in the second game as he dominated the Indian and took the lead in the mid-game break at 11-5. The former world number one did try to stage a comeback but failed as Lee took the second game 21-16.

In the final game, the Korean again looked the stronger player and took a 6-4 lead after 10 points were played. But Srikanth fought back to level the scores at 9-9 but failed to take the lead in the mid-game break. What followed was a high octane competition until 15-15 but the Korean took two points straight to register a two-point lead at 17-15. The pressure mounted on Srikanth and he could not fight back and ultimately lost the game 18-21 and crashed out of the tournament.

Srikanth’s unfortunate loss could well affect his rankings in the next cycle. He retained his eighth spot in the BWF rankings released on Thursday despite his early exit at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta last month.