Kidambi, Sameer knocked out of Korea Masters

Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma's defeats ends the Indian challenge in the Korea Open.

Kidambi Srikanth has struggled for form since reaching the final of the India Open in March.

Indian shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma crashed out of the Korea Masters after suffering straight-games defeat in their respective second-round clashes on Thursday.

Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama, who was facing Srikanth for the first time, defeated the sixth-seeded Indian 21-14, 21-19 in just 37 minutes.

Tsuneyama took the first game comfortably, winning six consecutive points at one stage to surge ahead of Srikanth. The Indian shuttler failed to threaten in the second game as well after he conceded a four-point lead to the Japanese and failed to recover from that before eventually getting knocked out of the tournament.

The 26-year-old has struggled for form since reaching the final of the India Open in March.

Meanwhile, Sameer also lost his round-of-16 match, going down to South Korea’s Kim Donghun 21-19, 21-12 in 39 minutes.

With the defeats, the Indian challenge comes to an end in Korea.