India’s performance in the Thailand Open was very disappointing and he could not increase his challenge beyond the second round in any category. With this, his journey in all classes ended here on Thursday. India’s leading female badminton player Saina Nehwal lost in the second round, while Kidambi Srikanth in the men’s singles withdrew from the match due to a hamstring injury.
Apart from this, all Indian couples also had to face the doubles category. Saina, ranked 20th in the world, was named local player Busanan O. Defeated 23–21, 21–14, 21–16. The match lasted 68 minutes. With Saina’s defeat, India’s challenge in the women’s singles of the tournament ended. It was the 7th match between the two teams to date. 12th ranked Busanan has won four matches, while Saina has had 3 matches.
In the women’s singles, apart from Saina, World Champion PV Sindhu also presented her challenge but she lost in the first round. Meanwhile, in the men’s singles, former World No.1 Srikanth withdrew from his second round due to injury. Srikanth, currently ranked 14th in the world rankings in men’s singles, was scheduled to take on the court against Lee Ji Jia of eighth seed Malaysia in their second-round match on Thursday.
After Srikanth’s untimely and unfortunate farewell, India’s challenge in men’s singles has ended. Earlier, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty of India were eliminated in the second round of men’s doubles. The Satwik-Chirag duo was defeated 21-1 21-17 in a 34-minute match by Indonesia’s Mohammad Ehsan and Hendra Setiawan.
Apart from this, India also got disappointed in mixed doubles. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa lost to Hong Kong’s Chang Tek Ching and Ng Wing Yung. The Hong Kong pair defeated the Indian pair 21-12 21-17 in a match that lasted 29 minutes. With this defeat, the Indian challenge in the tournament also ended.
