Syed Modi India International 2023: Srikanth knocked out; Unnati, Anupama advance to R16

Former world no. 1 Kidambi Srikanth suffered a crushing defeat at the hand of Chia Hao Lee in the first round of Syed Modi India International in Lucknow on Wednesday.

16-year-old Unnati Hooda, on the other hand, edged out seasoned player Aakarshi Kashyap in a 77-minute thriller.

Srikanth bowed out of the event in straight games. After an intense first game, where Srikanth conceded a 21-23 lead, Chia hammered the former World Championships silver medallist 21-8 in the second game to register a win in 38 minutes.

This was Srikanth's fourth straight first-round exit on the World Tour this year.

Unnati, an emerging star in women's singles, absorbed the pressure after losing the opener 15-21. Displaying her remarkable fighting spirit, she won the next two games 21-19, 21-18 to prevail over Aakarshi in their Round of 32 clash in this Super 300 tournament.

Unnati, who hails from Rohtak, Haryana, will face off against former world no. 1 Nozomi Okuhara, the former world champion from Japan. Okuhara defeated another Indian shuttler Malvika Bansod in a three-setter.

22-year-old Malvika conceded an opening game lead to go down in the match 21-18, 17-21, 19-21.

Another teenager Anupama Upadhyaya also won and progressed to the second round.

Anupama got the better of Amalie Schulz of Denmark 14-21 21-15 21-9, while Ashmita Chaliha thrashed Polina Buhrova of Ukraine 21-15 21-15 to advance to the Round of 16.

Priyanshu, Kiran win

In men's singles, promising youngsters Priyanshu Rajawat, Kiran George and Sathish Kumar Karunakaran secured spots in R16.

Priyanshu defeated Kazhakistan’s Dmitriy Panarin 21-17 21-19, while Kiran knocked out Lakshya Sen's brother Chirag Sen 21-16, 14-21, 21-13. Sathish, on the other hand, defeated Chinese Taipei’s Huang Yu Kai 21-8, 21-13.

Priyanshu and Satish will battle for a spot in the quarterfinals as Kiran faces Chia.

Mithun Manjunath and Sameer Verma, however, lost their matches. Mithun lost 16-21, 14-21 to Alex Lanier, while Sameer fought hard but lost 9-21, 21-17, 17-21 to Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei.

In women's doubles, Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto defeated compatriots Samriddhi Singh and Sonali Singh 21-8 21-9.

Ashwini and Tanisha will face Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda in the round of 16.