Kidambi Srikanth’s journey in China Masters ended on Friday. The Indian shuttler suffered a straight games defeat at the hands of Hong Kong’s Lee Chiuk Eu in the ongoing BWF World Tour Super 750 event in Shenzhen. The former world number-1 suffered a 16-21, 16-21 defeat at the hands of Lee.
Srikanth started the match on a positive note, scoring two points in quick succession, but Lee soon took control of the situation by equalising. The Hong Kong shuttler maintained her lead during the first game and won by a margin of five points. Yes, Srikanth definitely tried to make a comeback, but he could not bridge the gap of lead.
Lost game despite lead
Sri Lanka made a strong start in the second game, taking a 4–0 lead, but then lost the lead by committing four consecutive errors. In this way Lee got a chance to make a comeback. Srikanth gave a strong fight in the second game and at one point had a lead of 15-14. But Lee took advantage of the weakness of the Indian shuttler and won the match.
Lee improved the record
With this victory, Lee Chiuk Eu of Hong Kong has improved his record against Kidambi Srikanth. Srikanth lost his fourth consecutive match against Lee. The Indian shuttler had only defeated Lee in the first round of the 2018 India Open.
Srikanth’s best performance in three years
However, this was Kidambi Srikanth’s best performance in three years. Srikanth started his campaign at the China Masters by defeating Chi Yu-jen of Chinese Taipei in 35 minutes. Srikanth had defeated world number-21 21-16, 21-15. After this, Srikanth created a big upset by defeating world number-9 Victor Lai. The Indian shuttler had defeated Lai 21-18, 21-19 in the pre-quarterfinals.