2021 Hylo Open | Kidambi Srikanth steps into quarter-finals, Sourabh Verma eliminated

11/05/2021

Indian badminton star Kidambi Srikanth scripted a hard-fought win over South Korea’s Lee Dong Keun 21-9, 19-21, 21-10 to enter the quarter-final of the ongoing 2021 Hylo Open. Sourabh Verma was ousted in the round-of-16 itself, going down to Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen 13-21, 10-21.

With India’s challenge already ending in the women’s singles event, all eyes were on the men to make a mark at the 2021 Hylo Open in Saarbrucken, Germany on Thursday.

World no. 15 Kidambi Srikanth had to fight out of his skin to defeat South Korea’s Lee Dong Keun, with scores of 21-9, 19-21, 21-10 to enter the quarter-finals of the ongoing meet. The Indian had outclassed Japan’s Koi Watanabe 21-15, 21-10 in the previous fixture, which lasted a bit over 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, Sourabh Verma was eliminated in the round-of-16 itself, with him losing to Thailand’s world bronze medallist Kantaphon Wangcharoen 13-21, 10-21. The shuttler had earlier received a walkover in the previous round.

On the other hand, the Indians were outclassed in the women’s doubles event too, with the pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy losing to Indonesia’s Nita Violina Marwah and Putri Syaikah in the second round.

However, in the men’s singles event, India’s Lakshya Sen will be in action Chinese Taipei’s Wang Tzu Wei in the pre-quarter-finals.