Hong Kong Open 2018: Kidambi Srikanth, Sameer Verma progress into the quarter finals; Sindhu loses 

It was a disappointing day for Indian shuttlers as only Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma made it into the quarter finals of Super 500 tournament played at Kowloon, Hong Kong, on Thursday.

Kidambi Srikanth defeated Indian counterpart HS Prannoy in three gruelling games to move into the quarter finals. Prannoy won the first set 21-18. It was a very close fight during the second game as Srikanth won it 31-29 to force the match into the decider. In the final and deciding game, Srikanth played brilliant badminton and won it 21-18 to move into quarter finals stage. He will take on Kento Nishimoto in the quarter finals.

Sameer Verma progressed into the quarter finals as his opponent Chen Long did not come to play. The Indian will take on Lee C Y of Hong Kong.

The biggest disappointment came in the women’s singles as PV Sindhu lost to Korean Sung J-h in two gruelling games. In both games, PV Sindhu had chances of winning but made mistakes. The two time World Champion silver medallist lost 24-26, 20-22 to be knocked out in 2nd round. On the first day, Saina Nehwal lost to Akane Yamaguchi in the first round.

Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma would be looking to perform well in the upcoming matches.

Doubles lose in the second round

The men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy lost to Chinese Taipei pair of Lee J-h and Lee Y in two straight sets 16-21, 15-21 to be knocked out of the tournament.

In the mixed doubles, the pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and RankiReddy lost to the Chinese Taipei pair of Lee Y and Hsu Y-c in two straight games 17-21, 11-21 to be knocked out of the tournament also.

India will be hoping for good performances from Srikanth and Verma in the next round.