JOIN USIndian campaign in the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold badminton ended on Saturday with R M V Guru Sai Dutt and K Srikanth losing their semifinal matches against their respective Chinese rivals in Macau.
Seeded 12th in the tournament, Sai Dutt lost 16-21, 17-21 to unseeded Chen Yuekun of China in a 38-minute last-four clash while Srikanth threatened to take the match against another Chinese Gao Huan to the decider before going down 8-21, 19-21.
Sai Dutt, ranked 51st in the world, was going neck and neck with his Chinese opponent in the initial stages and they were 11-11 and then 15-16 before Chen raced ahead to take the first game.
The Chinese was much better in the smash winners and that made the difference in the second game also, as he left the Indian behind after they were 13-13 to win the match.
Srikanth also failed to match his opponent’s smashes as the Indian was out of sorts in the first game. From 2-4 down in the beginning, Srikanth lost his way to concede the first game 8-21 in no time.
Gao had twelve smash winners as against four from Srikanth in the first game.
Srikanth came back strongly in the second game which was a tight contest. The Indian was neck and neck with his Chinese opponent and they were 18-18 before Gao held on to his nerves to first take two straight points before pocketing the match in 39 minutes.