The Indian Badminton Men’s Singles player Kidambi Srikanth clears the round 32 of Thailand Masters after defeating Wang Tzu Wei in two straight games. The game was closely contested by both the star players and eventually Srikanth emerges as victorious with a score of 22-20, 21-19.
Srikanth will next face Indian prodigy Mithun Manjunath in round 16 on 1st February.
Kidambi Srikanth held his nerve in a close encounter
Kidambi Srikanth started the first game with lead of 6-0. But the Taiwanese player gave a strong reply and then equaled the game at 10-10 and even surpassed Srikanth with 13-10. The game got so close as both finished at 20-20. Kidambi was able to close the game at 22-20 with two consecutive points.
Srikanth Kidambi moves to the R16 after registering a very close win against Wang Tzu Wei in straight games
Turned up his gears in later half of both games pic.twitter.com/EZl3cvMmPP— Just Badminton (@BadmintonJust) January 31, 2024
The second game was even more enthralling as Srikanth and Wang did not allow to surpass each other. Both gained points one after the other, but Srikanth succeeded in maintain a lead from 13th point and finishing the game at 21-19, as well as the match.
Battle between Indians in round 16
Mithun Manjunath registered a comfortable win in round 32 against Jason Gunawan oh Hong Kong. He also won two straight games with a score 21-17, 21-8 to qualify for R16. With this win, Manjunath is set to lock horns against his senior pro Kidambi Srikanth in the next round of the event.
Another rising sensation Sankar Subramanian also cleared the round of 32 with a win(21-14, 21-17) against Leong Jun Hao. He will face Taiwanese Lin Chun-Yi in the next round. Subramanian previously qualified for the main round with a couple of wins in qualifiers.
