 "Kidambi Srikanth in a file image. PTI")
Kidambi Srikanth’s winning run at the Swiss Open Super 300 badminton tournament was brought to an end in the semi-final by Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chun-Yi in Basel on Saturday.
The former World No. 1 squandered a game lead to go down 21-15, 9-21, 18-21 in a gruelling contest that lasted an hour and five minutes.
With the loss, India’s challenge at the $210,000 tournament has ended.
The match marked Srikanth’s first last-four appearance of a tournament in 16 months. He had last reached the semis stage at the Hylo Open in November 2022.
After taking the opening game, Srikanth took an early 4-1 lead in the second game.
However, errors started to creep into the 2021 World Championships silver medallist’s game and Srikanth lost the momentum to go down tamely with Lin forcing a decider.
Srikanth got his rhythm back in the deciding game with not much separating the two shuttlers.
The Indian managed to take a slender lead at the interval.
At 16-16, Lin managed to lead away building a three point gap. Srikanth cut down the deficit but the nerves got the better of him, leading to the defeat.