The veteran shuttler Kidambi Srikanth advanced to the second round of the German Open Super300 tournament in Mülheim, Germany, on Wednesday.
He was the only Indian shuttler who managed to claim a win in the first round, giving a positive end to an otherwise disappointing day for India.
He clinched a straight-game 21-12, 21-11 win over much lower-ranked and qualifier Mikołaj Szymanowski of Poland in his opening match of the tournament.
He will next face the fourth seed, Lin Chun-yi of Chinese Taipei, in the second round. This will be the second meeting between the two shuttlers, with the latter winning the first one.
On the other hand, his compatriots Kiran George and Tharun Manepalli faced a straight-game exit in the first round in the men’s singles category.
Kiran went down 10-21, 20-22 to the top seed, Christo Popov, while Tharun fell short to the experienced Wang Wang Tzu-wei of Chinese Taipei, 18-21, 18-21.
In the women’s singles, India had six representatives, but none of them was able to progress past the first round, ending India’s campaign in this category.
Tasnim Mir, Isharani Baruah and Aakarshi Kashyap faced a straight-game defeat, while Rakshitha Sree, Malvika Bansod and Tanvi Sharma bowed down in three games.
Meanwhile, the lone Indian doubles pair of Ashwini Bhat and Sikha Gautam also faced a tight three-game 14-21, 21-14, 8-21 defeat to the Chinese Taipei pairing in women’s doubles.
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