File image of Kidambi Srikanth.© AFP
Former world no.1 Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth entered the second round of the Thailand Masters BWF Super 300 event with a straight-game win over his opponent here on Wednesday. Srikanth defeated Israel’s Danii Dubovenko 21-13 21-18 in the men’s singles opening round. This is Srikanth’s second straight win over Dubovenko, having defeated him previously in the 2024 Macau Open back in September 2024. Srikanth will next face Hong Kong’s Jason Gunawan.
Among other Indians in men’s singles, S Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian defeated Malaysia’s June Wei Cheam 15-21 21-15 21-19 in a tough three-game contest. He will next be up against Indonesia’s Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo.
Ayush Shetty was shown the door by Malaysia’s Jing Hong Kok 15-21 17-21, while Mithun Manjunath lost to another Malaysian in Sholeh Aidil 14-21 13-21 in men’s singles.
Srikanth was dominant right from the start, racing to a 6-0 lead in the first game and his opponent struggled, handing the Indian a 1-0 lead.
Srikanth continued in the same vein and raced off the blocks in the second game as well, but the Israeli shuttler put up a better fight this time.
Srikanth led 11-7 at the interval of the second game and kept up his momentum to close down the encounter at 21-18.
In mixed doubles, the pair of Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde defeated Thailand’s Weeraphat Phakjarung and Sararat Chueboca 21-8 21-16 to advance to the second round.
They will next play another Thai duo of Ratchapol Makkasasithorn aand Nattamon Laisuan. In men’s doubles, Ruben Kumar and Hariharan defeated Thailand’s Pannawat Jamtubtim and Ratchapol Makkasasithorn 21-18 21-12.
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