India’s ace shuttler Kidambi Srikanth suffered a second consecutive BWF World Tour 2023 first-round exit after his defeat to World No 1 Viktor Axelsen at the India Open 2023 men’s singles competition on Wednesday at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall in New Delhi. In the round of 32 of the BWF Super 750 competition, Kidambi Srikanth, a former World No. 1, was defeated by the current Olympic and world champion in straight sets 21-14, 21-19.
At the Malaysia Open earlier this month, he was defeated by Japanese player Kenta Nishimoto to crash out in the first round as per the Olympics website. The match started off strongly for Kidambi Srikanth, who is ranked 14th in the BWF global rankings, but Viktor Axelsen used his height well to take an 11-8 advantage over the Indian player at the midgame break in the first set. The first game was won by Axelsen after he steadily extended his lead.
In the second game, Kidambi Srikanth played well and appeared poised to extend the match into a decider. However, Srikanth let up seven straight points to the world champion, giving up a lead of 14-5 at one point. The Danish player capitalised on the momentum to win two games in a row to secure the win.