Facing tough opponents in the first round, Indian shuttlers Lakshya Sen and Srikanth Kidambi bowed out of China Masters Super 750 on Wednesday in Shenzhen.
Both Sen and Srikanth were up against higher-ranked, seeded players in the round of 32. Sen lost 21-19, 21-18 in a 59-minute battle against home favourite Shi Yu Qi, the world No 7. Srikanth, facing the reigning World Champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn, went down 15-21, 21-14, 13-21 in 62 minutes.
In the other two matches of the day featuring Indians, Priyanshu Rajawat went down 21-17, 21-14 in 46 minutes against Kenta Nishimoto. Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda lost against 7th seeds Zhang Shu Xian and Zheng Yu of China 21-15, 21-9.
The results on Wednesday meant that HS Prannoy and Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy are the remaining Indian interests at the final Super 750 tournament of the year.
Sen and Srikanth, both struggling for consistency in recent times, had their moments in their respective matches. For Sen, Shi was an opponent he had beaten recently during the Asian Games men’s team event final in what was a three-game thriller. But since the event in Hangzhou, the former World No.6, has now suffered four straight first-round exits.
His performance against Shi was perhaps the best of his recent performances as he pushed the Chinese former World No.2 in both games in a match filled with intense rallies. Sen fought back from 7-11 down to take the opener to the distance at 19-19 but Shi held his nerves to close it out.
The second game also saw Sen close a gap down from 4-9, and even moved into the lead 14-12. It was at that time that Shi called for medical attention on his lower back. The rallies were gruelling at this point but the break in play seemed to affect Sen more than Shi as the Chinese star recovered to close the match out in straight games.
For Srikanth, the opening game went against him but he rallied back well to force a decider against Vitidsarn. The Thai shuttler hasn’t been at his physical best in recent times, also nursing a bad back but he put his foot down in the back-end of the match. Srikanth’s shot-making collapsed in the final stages as the errors piled on, with Vitidsarn finishing the match with six straight points.
Seal of approval
Srikanth won the seal of approval from his opponent though. “It was very difficult today, I was feeling the pressure and he was playing well,” Vitidsarn told BWF after the match. “I need to start from zero again, and I need to learn about other top players. For a long time I haven’t played so I was feeling the pressure. I’m still working on myself, and I don’t feel fully fit, and I need to try my best.”
For Srikanth too, this was a third-straight first-round exit on the World Tour. He is yet to win a completed match since the Asian Games in Hangzhou.
With no more Super 500 or above events left in the 2023 season, Sen and Srikanth both missed out opportunities to make gains in the Olympic qualification ladder. The two of them are placed outside the top 16, with Sen at 17th above Srikanth in 21st. With HS Prannoy placed in the top 8 and on his way to seal one Paris 2024 spot in men’s singles for India, either Sen or Srikanth must move to 16th or better for India to have two spots in the category. At this stage, consistency is eluding both the youngster and the veteran.
On Thursday, eighth Prannoy will take on Denmark’s Magnus Johannesen after getting past former world No.2 Chou Tien Chen in straight games in the opening round. Prannoy had lost to Chou last week in Japan but made up for it with a straight-games win on Tuesday to progress.
Chirag and Satwik, the men’s doubles world No.5, have a tricky test against Japan’s Akira Koga and Taichi Saito. The Head-to-Head between the pairs is at 1-1, with the Indians losing their last meeting at the Singapore Open earlier this year. Chirag and Satwik have officially missed the bus for qualifying for the season-ending World Tour Finals next month in China but have the chance to finish a memorable season on a high with another title.
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