Srikanth, Kashyap crash out in opening round of French Open

While Srikanth lost 15-21, 21-7, 21-14 tp second seed Chou Tien Chen before, Kashyap was no match for Ng Ka Long Angus, losing 11-21, 9-21.

Kidambi Srikanth lost in 55 minutes to Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei at the French Open on Wednesday.

India’s Kidambi Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap were both ousted in the opening round of the men’s singles event at the French Open here on Wednesday.

While Srikanth fought hard for 55 minutes against second seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei before losing 15-21, 21-7, 21-14, Kashyap was no match for Hong Kong’s Ng Ka Long Angus, losing 11-21, 9-21.

Another Indian male shuttler Sameer Verma too suffered the same fate as he lost 22-20, 18-21, 18-21 to Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto in the first round.

Subhanker 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 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Ashwini Ponnappa and Pranaav Jerry Chopra-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.