Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], September 25 : Ace Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth made a fine return to competitive badminton, reaching the round two of ongoing Macau Open on Wednesday.
Kidambi, 31, had not featured in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) tour circuit since his injury during the Singapore Open back in May. Now, as per Olympics.com, he returned as a sixth-seed for the BWF Super 300 event. He defeated Daniil Dubovenko by 21-14, 21-15.
The 2021 World Championships medalists made it to the semifinals of the Swiss Open in March this year but struggled to reach beyond pre-quarterfinals in nine other tournaments played this year. Srikanth would be looking to go the distance in this tournament to regain his form.
Now, he has advanced to the round of 16, where he would be playing compatriot Ayush Shetty, who beat compatriot Alap Mishra 21-13, 21-5 in a one-side match.
Also, in mixed doubles competition, the pair of B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy beat the team of Malaysians Bing Kun Loo/Lo Ee Ho with a score of 24-22, 10-21, 21-13, advancing to round of 16.
On Tuesday, Commonwealth Games bronze medalists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand reached the pre-quarterfinals in the women's doubles, beating their 149th-ranked opponents Japanese pair of Akari Sato and Maya Taguchi 15-21, 21-16, 21-14 in their round of 32 match.
Prominent Indian stars from the Paris Olympics 2024, including two-time Olympic medallist, PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen, will not be playing in the Macau Open, which will conclude on Sunday.
Macau Open 2024: Indian badminton squad
Men's singles: Mithun Manjunath, Sameer Verma, Ayush Shetty, Kidambi Srikanth [6], S Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian, Chirag Sen; Qualifiers: Tharun Mannepalli, Aryamann Tandon, Alap Mishra, Darshan Pujari
Women's singles: Anupama Upadhyaya, Tanya Hemanth, Tasnim Mir, Devika Sihag, Isharani Baruah
Women's doubles: Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand [3], Apoorva Gahlawat/Sakshi Gahlawat; Qualifiers: Ruthvika Shivani Gadde/N Sikki Reddy
Mixed doubles: B Sumeeth Reddy/N Sikki Reddy, Rohan Kapoor/Ruthvika Shivani Gadde
Men's doubles: N/A.
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