Srikanth gets knocked out as Indian challenge ends at Malaysia Open

National champion K Srikanth’s dream run came to an end after he suffered a straight-game defeat against fourth seed Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia in the quarterfinals of the Malaysia Super Series Premier today. The world number 38 Indian, who had notched up victories against higher-ranked Yun Hu of Hong Kong and Korea’s Wan Ho Sun in the last two rounds, went down 10-21 15-21 against Sugiarto, a silver medallist at the World Junior Championships in Incheon. [caption id=“attachment_1345529” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Srikanth went down 10-21 15-21 against Sugiarto, a silver medallist at the World Junior Championships in Incheon. AFP[/caption] The 20-year-old Indian, who was crowned the National Championship in New Delhi, could not pose much of a challenge to Sugiarto in the opening game as after 3-3, the Indonesian broke off and kept extending his lead to eventually pocket the game comfortably. In the second game too, Sugiarto managed to hold an upper hand all throughout. Although Srikanth kept the pressure on his fancied rival by clawing back at 15-15, the Indonesian closed the door on him by reeling off six straight points to reach the semifinals. Top shuttler Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu and P Kashyap lost in the second round yesterday. PTI