Taipei, July 16 (IANS) The Indian challenge came to an early end as shuttlers P.V. Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma lost their respective second round matches at the $200,000 Chinese Taipei Open Grand Prix Gold here on Thursday.
Two-time World Championship bronze medallist Sindhu, who is yet to find form following her return to the circuit, lost to local talent and third seed Tai Tzu Ying 15-21, 17-21 in 32 minutes in women’s singles at the Taipei Arena. With the win, the World No.5 extended her record to 3-1 over the Indian.
Men’s singles third seed Srikanth also did not find his legs as the Guntur-born lost 19-21, 18-21 to Indonesian Ihsan Maulana Mustofa in 40 minutes. This was the first ever career meet between the two.
Earlier, World No.1 and Chinese top seed Chen Long defeated Sameer Verma 21-19, 21-16 in 42 minutes in their first match.