All England C'ships: K Srikanth loses to World No 1 Momota in quarters, Indian challenge ends
Birmingham, Mar 9 (UNI) Ace Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth has lost to World No 1 Japan's Kento Momota in straight games 12-21, 16-21 in the quarter-final of All England Championships here.
With the virtue of this defeat on Friday, India's challenge came to an end. Earlier, Saina Nehwal too lost her quarter-final match in straight games.
Momota took 44 minutes to enter the semi-final of the prestigious tournament. Seventh-seeded Srikanth looked out of colour throughout the match.
This was the 14th match between the two players. Of these 14 matches, the Japanese has won 11 times.
The match began in balance with both the players exchanging points and settling in on the court. At 9-9, the match looked well poised with Srikanth displaying some solidity against the skill of Momota. However, Momoto changed his gear after the break and won the game 12-21.
In the second game, the seven seed Indian failed to make any challenge against the Momoto. The Japanese took a health lead of 12-4, giving no change to his opponent to make come back into the game.
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