Singapore Open: Kidambi Srikanth Lost To World Number 77

Singapore Open: Kidambi Srikanth lost to world number 77, Sindhu in the second round.

India’s Mithun Manjunath made a comeback to beat compatriot and World Championship silver medalist Kidambi Srikanth.

While two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu also made it to the second round here on Wednesday.

Manjunath, who made it to the finals of the Orleans Masters Super 100 tournament in April, defeated world number 11 Srikanth 21-17, 15-21, 21-18 in an hour-long first-round match.

World No. 77 Manjunath will next take on Ireland’s Enhat Nguyen in the next round.

Earlier, PV Sindhu did not have to struggle much to beat world number 36 Liane Tan of Belgium 21-15, 21-11 in the first round of women’s singles.

Singapore Open: Former world champion Sindhu will next take on Thuy Lin Nguyen of Vietnam in the next round.

The 24-year-old Manjunath made a quick start in the men’s singles match against Srikanth to take a 6-2 lead. He easily won the first game, maintaining the lead throughout the game.

Srikanth came back in the second game to lead 11-8 till the break and then continued to increase the lead to win the game to 1-1. In the deciding game, there was tough competition between the two players.

Showing better control, Manjunath took a marginal lead of 11-10 till the break. Srikanth took the lead at 16-15, but Manjunath scored 18-18 to win the game and match with 3 points in a row.

Manjunath was infected with covid-19 earlier this year and had to withdraw from the India Open Super 500 tournament in January.

He made it to the semi-finals of the Syed Modi International Tournament and the quarter-finals of the Odisha Super 100.

He was part of the Indian team for the Badminton Asia Team Championship. Sindhu made a slow start in the women’s singles. She trailed 1-4 but managed to level at 7-7