Kidambi Srikanth Out of the Malaysia Open Super 1000 Due to Error

In the Malaysia Open Super 1000 badminton event, Kidambi Srikanth of India lost in straight games against Ng Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong on Thursday due to his inability to control his faults.

In a 38-minute men’s singles match, world no. 24 Srikanth was defeated 13-21 17-21 by world no. 20 Ka Long due to a string of careless mistakes and poor line calls.

Srikanth got off to a strong start, leading 6-1 at one point, but Ka Long’s six-point run turned the tide and exposed his execution flaws once again.

After losing to the Indians twice in their previous two encounters, the Hong Kong player gained confidence and used a further six-point surge to take control of the game as Srikanth faltered.

In the second game, Srikanth tried to play more aggressively at first and used a leaping cross-court smash to carve out a narrow 11-10 lead.

However, Ka Long—who has a strong record against Indian players—quickly reversed the situation to take a 14–12 lead, with Srikanth unable to comeback in time to make a stroke.

The Indian attempted to prolong the rallies, but Ka Long displayed amazing touch and was unrelenting in his retrievals. The Hong Kong player quickly led 17–12.

With a string of careless mistakes by Ka Long, the Indian shuttler scored some fast points to cut the gap to 16–18.

Ka Long soon came to his aid with a backhand flick, as he stopped Srikanth from making a smash kill and then hit one at the backline that the Indian was unable to reach. Next, Srikanth released his misery by spraying into the net.