Srikanth, Kashyap crash out in opening round of French Open

Indian shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap both faced defeat in the opening round of the men’s singles event at the French Open in Paris on Wednesday (October 23).

In a match that lasted for 55 minutes, Srikanth struggled to get his way past second seed Chou Tien Chen. He lost 15-21 21-7 21-14 to the Chinese.

Kashyap, on the other hand, was no match for Hong Kong’s Ng Ka Long Angus, losing 11-21 9-21.

Another Indian male badminton player suffered the same as he lost 22-20 18-21 18-21 in a hard-fought match to Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto in the first round.

Also read: Sindhu and team look to snap run of early exits at French Open

Shubhanker Dey now remains the lone Indian in the men’s singles contest, having progressed to the second round where he will be up against Shesar Hiren Rhustavito of Indonesia.

India’s challenge, however, came to an end in the opening round of the mixed doubles event with the ouster of the pairs of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa and Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy.

While Rankireddy and Ponappa lost 17-21 18-21 against fourth seed Seo Seung Jae and Chae Yujung of Korea, Chopra and Reddy combination was shown the door by England’s Chris Adcock and Gabriellle Adcock 13-21 18-21.

(With inputs from agencies)