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German Open Badminton: Kidambi Srikanth survives thriller to enter second round; Sindhu marches on

Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth made a winning start as he defeated France's Brice Leverdez in a three-game opener at the German Open Super 300 badminton tournament

By Pti
Srikanth survives thriller to enter second round

Muelheim An Der Ruhr (Germany), March 8: World championships silver medallist Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth made a winning start as he defeated France's Brice Leverdez in a three-game opener at the German Open Super 300 badminton tournament in Muelheim An Der Ruhr on Tuesday (March 8).

The eighth-seeded Indian shuttler, who was forced out of the India Open Super 500 event in January after testing positive for COVID, prevailed 21-10 13-21 21-7 in 48 minutes over the world no 39 Leverdez to extend his head-to-head count to 4-0.

The world no 11 Indian will take on China's Lu Guang Zu in the next round. Srikanth has a 2-0 record against the world no 27 Chinese.

The 29-year-old from Guntur looked in good touch as he zoomed from 6-6 to 19-8 in a jiffy and pocketed the opening game comfortably. Leverdez made a roaring comeback in the second game as he dominated the proceeding and led from the start to finish to make it 1-1.

In the decider, Srikanth found his rhythm back as he constructed the points well and slowly made his way to 11-5 at the break and kept his nose ahead to soon jump to 18-7 before sealing it comfortably in the end.

Meanwhile, two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu also advanced to the next round of the women's singles of the ongoing tournament on Tuesday. Playing in court 2, the Indian shuttler defeated Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan in straight games.

Sindhu downed the Thai shuttler in straight games 21-8, 21-7 in a contest that lasted 32 minutes.

Later in the day, Sania Nehwal marched into the second round with a win over Spain's Clara Azurmendi. In a contest which lasted for 47 minutes, Nehwal downed Azurmendi 21-15, 17-21, 21-14 in court 1 on Tuesday.

Lakshya Sen also entered the next round with a straight game win over Thailand's Kantaphon Wangcharoen. Sen defeated the Thai shuttler in straight games 21-6, 22-20 in a 36 minute game.

Story first published: Tuesday, March 8, 2022, 23:17 [IST]
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