Odense (Denmark): Kidambi Srikanth dished out a dominating show to outclass England’s Toby Penty in straight games in his opening round match at the Denmark Open badminton tournament. The event marked the resumption of international badminton after seven months. Kidambi Srikanth showed that he is still sharp in spite of being out of action for a lengthy period. Srikanth, the former World No.1 beat Toby 21-12, 21-18 in 37 minutes, as the sport finally got going after the long coronavirus-forced hiatus.
Though Srikanth conceded a few negative points in both the games, he was never in any problems against Toby. It was always on the cards that the Indian would win in straight games. Srikanth played some powerful smashes on both flanks and Toby had no answer to those.
The fifth seed will face either fellow Indian Subhankar Dey or Canada’s Jason Anthony Ho-Shue in the next round.
Lakshya Sen has already reached the second round with a straight game win Tuesday over Christo Popov. He will face Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus of Denmark in his next round.
The 19-year-old Indian, who claimed five titles including two Super 100 tournaments last year, produced a clinical performance to outwit Popov 21-9, 21-15 to reach the second round.
Denmark Open Super 750 is the only event happening this year as the BWF was forced to cancel multiple tournaments. It also had to postpone the Asia leg and the World Tour Finals to next year.