Sindhu loses in Hong Kong second round

Hong Kong, Nov. 14: World champion P. V. Sindhu exited the $400,000 Hong Kong Open in the prequarterfinals but Kidambi Srikanth made the quarters for the first time in seven months after claiming a thrilling win in men’s singles here on Thursday.

It was also curtains for H.S. Prannoy and Parupalli Kashyap after they suffered contrasting losses in the second round.

World No.6 Sindhu went down 18-21, 21-11, 16-21 to Busanan Ongbamrungphan of Thailand in 69 minutes to continue her recent dismal run. It was Sindhu’s first loss to the Thailand player in 11 meetings.

Sindhu has made early exits from a series of recent tournaments in China, Korea and Denmark.

Earlier, Srikanth, who slipped to the 13th spot in the latest BWF rankings this week, emerged as the only Indian survivor after notching up a 21-11, 15-21, 21-19 win over compatriot Sourabh Verma in the men’s singles second round.

Srikanth had last reached the quarterfinals at the

Singapore Open in April. The Guntur shuttler, who received a first-round bye from World No.1 Kento Momota of Japan, will face Olympic champion Chen Long of China next.

Earlier, H.S. Prannoy suffered a 12-21, 19-21 loss to sixth seed Indonesian Jonatan Christie in the second round.

Former Commonwealth Games champion Kashyap played his heart out before going down narrowly to World No.2 Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei 2112, 21-23, 10-21 in a match that lasted exactly an hour.

In other results, fourth seeded Japanese pair of Arisa Higashino and Yuta Watanabe the beat Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa 21-19, 21-12 in 42 minutes in the mixed doubles.

● Kidambi Srikanth remained the lone Indian survivor after defeating Sourabh Verma 21-11, 15-21, 21-19 at the Hong Kong Open.

● World No.6 Sindhu went down 18-21, 21-11, 16-21 to Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan.