Get Instant News Updates
Enable
x
Notification Settings X
Time Settings
Done
Clear Notification X
Do you want to clear all the notifications from your inbox?
Settings X
For Quick Alerts
ALLOW NOTIFICATIONS  
For Daily Alerts

Rio Olympics Badminton: India's Kidambi Srikanth wins opening match

By PTI

Rio de Janeiro, Aug 12: World No 11 Kidambi Srikanth overcame some stiff resistance in the second game from lower ranked Mexican rival Lino Munoz before winning his group H clash in straight games in men's badminton singles at the Rio Olympics here Thursday (August 11).

Photo gallery

Srikanth, the only Indian male shuttler in fray in singles, got past world No 85 Munoz 21-11 21-17 in 41 minutes to give a perfect ending to the 6th day of competitions. (Saina, Sindhu win)

A file photo of Kidambi Srikanth

If Srikanth, who had defeated badminton super star Lin Dan to win the Chinese Open two years ago, had expected an easier outing than he encountered, it was belied by the Mexican's will to fight with good backing from the crowd, especially in the second game.

After taking the opening game comfortably, the cushion of a 16-9 lead proving handy, Srikanth was given a tough fight in the second as he had to rally from behind on quite a few occasions before using his better court craft and experience to see him through.

Srikanth led 6-2 but the Mexican drew level and then led 8-6 before the Indian fought back to restore parity. Srikanth was 11-9 ahead at the break but a series of poor returns of serve saw the Indian down 11-12.

Things were neck to neck from this point till 13-all before Munoz again went up to 16-13 with the help of some weak mid-court clears by the Indian that were "killed" without much ado by the Mexican.

Srikanth again caught up at 16, fell behind 16-17 through another weak mid-court clear, but finally brought his game back on track to level the scores at 17 with a superb smash to the forehand side of his rival.

From then on the superiority of the Indian shuttler came to the fore as he came up with successive cross court and down the line smashes to lead 19-17 which were followed by a netted shot by his rival to give Srikanth four match points.

The last point was won by the Indian with a bodyline smash followed by a push to the back court that caught the Mexican in no-man's land.

PTI

Story first published: Tuesday, August 8, 2017, 10:12 [IST]
Other articles published on Aug 8, 2017