Kidambi Srikanth on Friday reached the semi-final of the Hong Kong Open badminton tournament after his opponent, China’s reigning Olympic champion Chen Long, retired before the second game of the match. Srikanth won the first game 21-13 before Chen Long retired. The match lasted 15 minutes.
Srikanth has hence played only one full match in the tournament so far — the quarter final against compatriot Sai Praneeth which he won 21-23, 21-11, 21-19 — as his first round opponent and world No. 1 Kento Momota withdrew from the tournament.
Srikanth will now face either Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu or Danish world No. 5 Viktor Axelsen in the semi-final. He is the only Indian remaining in the tournament after PV Sindhu lost to Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the second round of the women’s singles on Thursday.
Saina Nehwal had been knocked out in the first round, as did in-form men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty.