Kidambi Srikanth crashed out of the Denmark Open after losing to Kento Momota of Japan in the semi-finals on Saturday, 20 October. The Indian shuttler was completely off-colour, going down 16-21, 12-21 against World no 1 Momoto in the men’s singles event.
However, there was not much to separate between the two initially as they were locked 10-10. But from there on, Momota surged ahead by reeling off four straight points.
World number six Srikanth narrowed down the gap to 13-15 but the Japanese continued his momentum to make it 20-13 to have seven game points. The Indian saved three game points but it was just a matter of one shot for Momota to go 1-0 up in the match.
The second game was even worse for Srikanth as he trailed all along from 4-4. There was a brief period of a fightback from Srikanth when he made the score 9-11 but from there on the Japanese was unstoppable as he won the second game quickly to pocket the match.
World no 6 Kidambi, who bagged a record four titles last season, is yet to win his first title this year. What’s surprising is that the Indian shuttler has in fact been knocked out in the early stages of tournaments. Before this, two of his defeats have come in the Round of 32, which includes the Asian Games, while three of them – India Open, England Open, World Championships – in the Round of 16.
After early exits in the England Open and India Open, Kidambi reached the final of men’s singles event at the Commonwealth Games – his only final this year. However, he had to settle for a silver after losing 21-19, 14-21, 14-21 to Lee Chong Wei.
It was around this time that Kidambi displaced Viktor Axelsen to become world number 1 shuttler – the first Indian male and second overall after Saina Nehwal to achieve the feat. He has now slipped to the sixth place in the men’s singles standing.
At the Asian Games, he suffered a shock loss against 28th ranked Wong Wing Ki Vincent of Hong Kong in the men’s singles second round. Post that, he was knocked out of the quarter-finals of both, China and Japan Open.
(With inputs from PTI)
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