JOIN USErratic Srikanth survives opener
Kidambi Srikanth made a bagful of errors but still carried far too many guns for Mexico’s Lino Munoz in his opening group match of the Olympic Games badminton on Thursday.
An impatient Srikanth, the ninth seed, seemed to take his opponent a little too lightly as he went for his strokes with gay abandon. Munoz sparkled briefly with nice retrievals and some good touch play but could not capitalise on the Indian’s mistakes. Srikanth won 21-11, 21-17.
“First matches at new venues are always difficult. I didn’t know how he played and the drift also bothered me,” said Srikanth, playing down his mistakes.
The only Indian in men’s singles here, Srikanth started a bit too casually in the last match of the day, smashing wide and also into the net. He also attempted some fancy net play but managed to only find the net. Munoz managed to level-peg with the Indian on the scoreboard.
Srikanth then tightened up his game, pulling away from 7-7 to win eight points in a row. He didn’t let go of the advantage, wrapping up the first game quickly.
Srikanth’s rash play allowed Munoz to parade his strokes in front of his loudly-cheering supporters. As the Mexican kept up with him, frustration and impatience began to show up in Srikanth’s play. The game was going away from him at 13-16 but the Indian pulled up his socks in time to draw level at 16-16 before stamping his authority on the match.
Srikanth next plays Henri Hurskainen of Sweden in his next match. “I had played him two years ago. He won the match then, let’s hope it is different this time,” said Srikanth.
Jwala-Ashwini lose
In women’s doubles, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa suffered their second straight defeat to bow out. They lost to Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek of the Netherlands 21-16, 16-21, 21-17 on Friday.
The Indians had lost their first group game to Chrstinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter of Denmark on Thursday.