Top Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth crashed out of the French Open Super 750 badminton tournament after losing to Rasmus Gemke of Denmark in the pre-quarterfinals here on Thursday. Kidambi lost 21-19, 12-21, 19-21 in the match that lasted one hour and 15 minutes.
In the first game, Srikanth made a remarkable fightback after trailing 10-16 as he won nine straight points to take a 19-16 lead before going 1-0 up. The scores were levelled at 10-10 in the second game and Gemke won six straight points to zoom ahead and take the match to the decider.
The decider was a neck-to-neck affair before the Dane emerged victorious. In the men's doubles, seventh-seeded Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty beat the Malaysian duo of Man Wei Chong and Kai Wun Tee 21-16 21-14 in a round of 16 match that lasted 40 minutes.
The Indians now run into the top-seeded Japanese pair of Takuro Hohi and Yugo Kobayashi in the quarterfinals.