Kowloon: Olympic medallist shuttler PV Sindhu suffered an unexpected loss in the second round but Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma advanced to the quarterfinals to keep India’s flag flying at the Hong Kong Open World Tour Super 500 tournament here on Thursday.
World no. 4 Sindhu, who was seeded third here, was shown the door by Hyun Ji Sung of Korea 24-26 20-22 in fighting 59 minute duel.
With Sindhu’s exit, India’s challenge ended in the women’s singles after Saina Nehwal had made a first round exit.
Fourth seeded Srikanth, who had claimed a silver medal at this year’s Commonwealth Games, had to dig deep in his reservoir to outwit fellow Indian H S Prannoy 18-21 30-29 21-18 in a thrilling match, clocking an hour and seven minutes.
Sameer, however, qualified for the quarterfinals after his formidable opponent, Olympic champion Chen Long pulled out of the competition due to injury. (PTI)
