Tokyo: India’s singles challenge at the Japan Open Super Series badminton tournament ended Friday with both Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy losing their quarterfinal matches. However, the mixed doubles duo of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy kept the Indian flag flying by booking a last four berth.
An error-prone Srikanth lost 17-21, 17-21 to World No.2 and current World Champion Viktor Axelsen while Prannoy lost to China’s second seed Shi Yuqi 15-21, 14-21 in 45-minute match.
However Pranaav and Sikki kept India’s hopes alive by defeating Korea’s Seung Jae Seo and Kim Ha Na 21-18, 9-21, 21-19 to set up a clash with Japan’s Takuro Hoki and Sayaka Hirota in the next round.
Srikanth, the 25-year-old from Guntur, who clinched back-to-back titles at Indonesia and Australia, couldn’t curb his simple errors to bow out in a match that lasted 40 minutes.
With the victory Friday, the Dane enjoys a 3-2 head-to-head lead over Srikanth in five meetings, having won the last three duels.
Srikanth made too many errors and squandered 16-13 and 9 -6 advantages in the first and second games respectively. Axelsen, on the other hand, showed great agility and used his smashes to good use to outwit the Indian.
In the opening game, Axelsen opened up a 4-1 lead early on. Srikanth clawed back at 4-4 before grabbing the lead but the Dane managed to turn the tables to reach 8-6 when his opponent made a judgement error at baseline, found the net and then hit long. However, Srikanth drew level at 12-all and then seemed to have everything under control when he built up a three-point lead.
However, Axelsen restored parity at 16-all, then won a video referral and then showed good athleticism to win a couple of points before unleashing a jump cross court smash to seal the opening game.
In the second game, Srikanth played some good rallies initially to first lead 6-4 and then 9-6. A miscued shot into the net from Srikanth gave Axelsen an opportunity and he capitalised on it with two precise smashes to draw parity at 9-9. Then the Dane continued to dominate proceedings and even though at one stage Srikanth narrowed the gap down to 16-17, he really could not trouble Axelsen.
Axelsen soon unleashed another jump smash to move to three match points and sealed it when he drew Srikanth at net and then pushed the shuttle away from him with a back hand flick.
Results
Pranaav Jerry Chopra & N Sikki Reddy bt Seung Jae Seo & Kim Ha Na 21-18, 9-21, 21-19
Kidambi Srikanth lost to Viktor Axelsen 17-21, 17-21
HS Prannoy lost to Shi Yuqi 15-21, 14-21
press trust of india
