Kidambi Srikanth, Sameer Verma bow out of Thailand Masters

Fifth-seeded Kidambi lost 21-12, 14-21, 11-21 to Rhustavito in 48 minutes to make his third straight first-round loss of the year.

Bangkok: Indian male shuttlers once again failed to make a good start as Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma bowed out of Thailand Masters after losing their respective matches in the first round on Wednesday.

While Kidambi lost to Shesar Hiren Rhustavito of Indonesia, Verma suffered a crushing defeat to Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia.

Fifth-seeded Kidambi lost 21-12, 14-21, 11-21 to Rhustavito in 48 minutes to make his third straight first-round loss of the year. With this loss, his hopes of making it to the Tokyo Olympics have been further dented.

It was Kidambi Srikanth's second defeat to Shesar Hiren Rhustavito in 2020.

Srikanth was knocked out of the Indonesia Masters 500 tournament after suffering a first-round defeat to Rhustavito. Before that, he had also made a first-round exit from the Malaysia Masters.

On the other hand, Verma was also outplayed 16-21, 15-21 by Zii Jia in just 38 minutes.

Srikanth is placed 23rd in BWF's rankings, as April 26 has been set as the deadline for Tokyo Olympics qualification.