 "Kidambi Srikanth")
India's Kidambi Srikanth played his heart out before going down fighting against two-time defending champion Lin Dan in the quarterfinals of the men's singles badminton event at the Rio Olympics here today.
The 21-year-old from Guntur, who had beaten the five-time World Champion from China in the 2014 China Open final, suffered a 6-21 21-11 18-21 loss against the World No. 3 Chinese in a nerve-wrecking match that lasted for an hour and four minutes.
Lin Dan will now take on his long-time rival and two-time Olympic silver medallist Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in a mouth-watering semifinal clash. The top seed beat sixth seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei 21-9 21-15.
Srikanth thus remained the second Indian male shuttler to reach the quarterfinals after Parupalli Kashyap achieved the feat at the London Games.
A former World No. 3, Srikanth seemed nervous early on and was totally outclassed in the lop-sided opening game which lasted just 16 minutes.
Srikanth struggled with his net play early on to allow Lin Dan lead 4-1 in the first game. The left-handed Chinese continued to dominate with his controlled stroke play as he engaged in long rallies with the Indian to lead 10-1 after winning a video referral. With Srikanth once again hitting long, Lin Dan entered the interval at 11-1.
After the break, Srikanth tried to get a hold on his nerves and played long rally but always ended up hitting a wayward shot as Lin Dan continued to surge ahead. In the end, it was two unforced errors that gifted the game to the Chinese.
There was a visible change in Srikanth's demeanour in the second game as he raced to a 6-3 lead. His strokes got better as he caught the celebrated Chinese off guard a few times with his angled returns and held a six-point advantage at the interval.
Srikanth tried to engage Lin Dan in long rallies with some deep corner returns and then came up with some sublime winners to lead 15-8. The Indian missed a video referral to allow Lin Dan a point but his forehand smash found Lin Dan napping next. The Chinese again hit long as Srikanth led 17-9.
A cross court backhand return earned Srikanth another point and with the Chinese going long again, meant he had a 10-game point advantage. One smash went wide but Srikanth roared back into the contest with a superb return at the forecourt.
(REOPENS FGN 23)
In the decider, six-time All England champion, Lin Dan opened up a slender 2-0 lead but Srikanth managed to narrow it down to 3-4 before a superb rally ended with the Chinese stamping his authority to lead 5-3.
Srikanth continued to stretch his more experienced rival and drew parity at 6-6 when Lin failed to lift a shot at the net. The Indian played some extraordinary strokes to bamboozle the Chinese.
The Indian grabbed a slender lead for the first time at 9-8 when Lin Dan hit long and entered the break with a 11-8 advantage after producing a powerful smash which grounded the Chinese.
Srikanth played some excellent strokes at the forecourt, dominating the net which seemed to wary the 32-year-old Chinese briefly. Lin Dan managed to erase the deficit at 13-13 when Srikanth missed the baseline by a whisker after being troubled by the drift.
A couple of unforced errors shifted the momentum to Lin Dan's favour as he led 16-14. The Chinese netted one return but his disguised net shot caught Srikanth offcourt. A smash gave a point to the Indian, who pumped himself up after winning every point.
However, the sheer quality of his strokes helped Lin Dan lead 19-16 but Srikanth managed to breath down his neck with another superb smash before a rushing shot got buried at the nets and gave the match point to the Chinese.
Srikanth saved one match point when Lin Dan's return ended outside the court but the Chinese sealed the issue by pushing the shuttle at the back court.
