German Open Grand Prix Gold: Kidambi Srikanth makes resounding start, Tanvi Lad crashes out

Mülheim an der Ruhr: Top Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth made a resounding start to his campaign at the German Open Grand Prix Gold, defeating Alen Roj of Slovakia in straight games. [caption id=“attachment_3309670” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of Kidambi Srikanth. AFP[/caption] Srikanth brushed aside Alen 21-4 21-11 in a lop-sided opening round contest that lasted 21 minutes last night. He will face Japan’s Yusuke Onodera next. A former World No 3, Srikanth had reached the semi-finals of the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold before his title defence was broken by compatriot Sai Praneeth at Lucknow last month. Meanwhile, Subhankar Dey defeated China’s Zhao Junpeng 16-21 21-17 21-19 to set up a clash with fifth seed NG Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong, while Harshit Aggarwal defeated Bjorn Segun of the US 18-21 21-8 21-6 in another match. Harshit will next face eighth seed Hu Yun of Hong Kong. Among others, it was curtains for Siril Verma and Harsheel Dani in men’s singles, while Tanvi Lad also bowed out in the opening round of women’s singles. Tanvi lost 14-21 12-21 to Indonesia’s Priskila Siahaya, while Siril suffered a 13-21 10-21 loss to China’s Lin Dan and Harsheel went down 13-21 12-21 to Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen, seeded sixth. Rahul Yadav Chittaboina also suffered a 18-21 18-21 defeat against Israel’s Misha Zilberman in another men’s singles opening round match.