Singapore Open: Srikanth, Priyanshu knocked out, Indian challenge ends

Rising Indian shuttler Priyanshu Rajawat and Kidambi Srikanth lost their respective round of 16 matches along with the duo of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila ending the Indian challenge at the Singapore Open 2023 on Thursday.

Rajawat, who had surprised everyone by defeating Japan's Kanta Tsuneyama in the first round, couldn't maintain his momentum and lost to Naraoka in straight games, with a scoreline of 17-21, 16-21 in Singapore.

Naraoka, ranked fourth in the world, continued his dominance in the tournament after eliminating HS Prannoy in the previous round. Despite a valiant effort, Rajawat, ranked 37th in the world, struggled to catch up with Naraoka throughout the match, eventually losing in a 47-minute battle.

In the men's doubles category, MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila faced a defeat against England's Ben Lane and Sean Vendy. The Indian duo fought hard but fell short, losing the match with a score of 15-21, 19-21 in 41 minutes.

Meanwhile, former Indian number one Kidambi Srikanth played a stinker against qualifier Chia Hao Lee of Chinese Taipei to end India's challenge.

In a game where Srikanth started poorly, Lee won the first game 21-15 easily. In the second game, Srikanth did well to take a lead of 19-12 but surrendered nine straight points to hand over the win to Lee.

Unfortunately, several prominent Indian players had early exits from the tournament. Double Olympic medalist PV Sindhu, the defending champion, lost in the first round to Japan's Akane Yamaguchi, who is currently ranked number one in the world. Lakshya Sen, a former World Championship bronze medalist, and Saina Nehwal, a London Olympics bronze medalist, also suffered first-round defeats.

Additionally, the Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, ranked 11th in the world, and Commonwealth women's doubles bronze medalists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand were knocked out in their respective opening-round matches.

(With PTI Inputs)