Former World No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth bows out of ongoing US Open badminton tournament

Iowa [US], June 26 (ANI): Ace Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth suffered a loss in his opening round of the men's singles event at the US Open 2025 badminton tournament.

Former world No. 1 Srikanth, currently 50th in the badminton rankings and seeded eighth for the BWF Super 300 tournament, lost 21-19, 12-21, 21-14 to the 77th-ranked Harry Huang of England on Wednesday, as per the Olympics.com.

Following his inspiring run at last month's Malaysia Masters, where he became only the second man in history to reach the final of a BWF Super 500 event after starting from the qualifiers, Srikanth was stunned in the first game on Wednesday despite leading 18-16 at one stage.

The Indian badminton player fought back in the second game to force a decider but ran out of steam to lose the match in just under an hour.

Srikanth's compatriots Priyanshu Rajawat, Sankar Subramanian and Rithvik Sanjeev Satish Kumar also failed to cross the opening round hurdle in men's singles.

World No. 38 Rajawat, the sixth seed, was upset 10-21, 21-12, 7-21 by Chinese Taipei's 54th-ranked Yen-Chen Ting. Rithvik Sanjeev Satish Kumar, meanwhile, lost 21-18, 21-12 to France's Enogat Roy.

Subaramanian went down to Chinese Taipei's Jhuo-Fu Liao with a 21-13, 21-19 scoreline.

Ayush Shetty and Tharun Mannepalli, however, progressed to the second round, where they will face each other.

Fourth seed Shetty, world No. 34 and the best-ranked Indian man in Iowa, beat Magnus Johannesen of Denmark 21-17, 21-19 in his round of 32 match-up, while Mannepalli came from behind to beat France's Arnaud Merkle 19-21, 21-18, 21-18.

In women's singles, Anmol Kharb also rallied from a game down to beat Czechia's Tereza Svabikova 16-21, 21-13, 21-19, while Aakarshi Kashyap's entry into the second round was a lot more straightforward as she beat Chinese Taipei's Ting Yu Liang 21-19, 21-10 in just 34 minutes.

World No. 66 Tanvi Sharma pulled off a huge upset as she beat Nguyen Thuy Linh of Vietnam, also the second seed, 21-19, 21-9 in straight games. Qualifier Ira Sharma also advanced to the round of 16 after her opponent, Yi-Ting Hung of Chinese Taipei, retired during the third game.

Tanya Hemnath and Shriyanshi Valishetty's campaign ended early. Hemnath lost a three-game match to Amalie Schulz of Denmark, while Valishetty went down to the Ukrainian seventh seed Polina Buhrova in straight games.

In mixed doubles, top seeds Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto suffered a shock opening round exit after the 17th-ranked Indian pair lost to Chinese Taipei duo Yu Chieh Lin and Yu-En Hung, still unranked, 21-17, 16-21, 17-21.

Late entry Ayush Agarwal and Shruti Mishra's 2-15, 15-21, 21-16 loss to the Guatemalan pair Christopher Alexander Martinez Salvador and Diana Corleto Soto later in the day also ended India's run in mixed doubles badminton at the US Open.

Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra, in women's doubles, and Hariharan Amsakarunan and Ruban Kumar Rethinasabapathi, in men's doubles, had progressed to the second round on Tuesday. (ANI)

(The story has come from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by the Tribune Staff.)