TOKYO: India's Commonwealth Games badminton bronze medalist Kidambi Srikanth was stunned by unseeded Zhao Junpeng in the second round of the world championships in Tokyo on Wednesday. Number 12 seed Srikanth, the silver medalist at last year's world championships, lost 21-9, 21-17 to China's Zhao, his second-game comeback falling away at the finish.
Srikanth, part of India's Thomas Cup-winning team in May, said he "could have maybe played better" but was not as clinical as his opponent. "He just played well when it really mattered," said the former world number one. "I had my chances in the second set and if I could have won it, anything could have happened in the third set. "It's just about winning the points when it really matters and I think he played really well in the closing stages of the second set," the 29-year-old added.
Antonsen crashes out
Meanwhile, third-seeded Anders Antonsen crashed out in the first round of badminton's world championships in Tokyo on Monday but top-ranked fellow Dane Viktor Axelsen was a ruthless winner. The 2019 world silver-medalist Antonsen fell behind early and never managed to get a foothold in a 21-15, 21-19 loss to Japan's Kenta Nishimoto.
The 25-year-old Antonsen was playing his first competitive match in three months after pulling an abdominal muscle in May and said it "felt a bit strange just to suddenly be on court again". "I felt like I played better and better and it was a shame that I didn't make the comeback in the second game, I was so close," said Antonsen, who had fended off four match points. "It's my first match in a long time so I just need to get back to competition. Today was the beginning." Axelsen lived up to his billing as the world's number one with a straightforward 21-16, 21-12 win over Malaysia's Daren Liew.
Axelsen was pleased to safely negotiate his way past the world number 29. "Every first round is always tricky. Daren is an experienced opponent, he's a really good player when he plays well," said Axelsen. "I really had to step up in big parts of the game today and I'm really happy about how I managed to deal with everything." China's Shi Yuqi returned to action for the first time in 10 months after serving a ban and beat Azerbaijan's Ade Resky Dwicahyo 22-20, 21-10.
Shi, a world finalist in 2018, retired during a 2021 match against Japan's Kento Momota and was banned by the Chinese Badminton Association for making "inappropriate comments" about his withdrawal. He said he "felt a bit nervous" as he entered the court to face Dwicahyo but "felt good to be playing again" once he had settled into the match. "It definitely feels a lot different," said the 26-year-old. "When you're playing in training it's a lot different from playing tournaments." - AFP