Srikanth, Sameer crash out of BWF Hong Kong Open 2018

Speed Post News Network

Patna : World No 8 in Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings Kidambi Srikanth, 25, India, and World No 18 Sameer Verma, 24, India, lost in the quarter-finals of  Yonex-Sunrise Hong Kong Open 2018, a BWF World Tour Super 500 event, at Hong Kong, on November 16, 2018. World No Kento Momota, 24, Japan, entered the semi-finals beating World No 12 Jonatan Christie, 21, Indonesia.

Srikanth lost to World No 11 Kenta Nishimoto, 24, Japan, in straight games 21-17, 21-13 in the quarter-finals in 44 minutes continuing his poor run at the major tournaments this year. Nishimoto won 42 rallies in the match to 30 by Srikanth. Nishimoto won 7 consecutive points in the match compared to 4 by Srikanth. Srikanth, however, still leads Nishimoto 3-1 head to head. Nishimoto had won bronze medal in men’s singles at 2018 Asian Games.

World No 47 Lee Cheuk Yiu, 22, Hong Kong, stunned World No 18 Sameer Verma in another quarter-finals in a three-game encounter 21-15, 19-21, 21-11 in 73 minutes to enter the semi-finals. Yiu won 61 rallies in the match to 47 by Sameer. He also won 7 consecutive points to 5 by Sameer. The two players are 1-1 head to head.

Top seed Kento Momota beat Jonatan Christie in three-games 22-24, 21-9, 21-9 in 64 minutes in the quarter-finals. Momota won 64 rallies in the match to 42 by Christie. He won 5 consecutive points to 4 by his rival. Momota leads Christie 2-0 head to head. Christie, also known as Jojo, had won gold medal in the men’s singles event at 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia.

World No 6 Son Wan Ho, 30, South Korea, also entered the semi-finals defeating World No 22 Lee Dong Keun, 27, South Korea,  21-16, 21-14 in 55 minutes in the quarter-finals.