Srikanth loses quarters to reigning Olympic champion

Yet another heartbreak for the Indian contingent; Srikanth Kidambi crashed out of Rio Olympics after losing in the quarter-final on the men's singles event, despite putting up a great fight against the reigning champion Lin Dan.

After a terrible first game of 6-21, Kidambi made an excellent comeback in the second where he dominated his opponent throughout. He sealed the second game 21-11, negating Dan's strength of drop shots.

The double Olympic gold winner taunted Kidambi with his acute drop shots and powerful body smashes, but the cool Indian had his head screwed firmly on his shoulders and returned each deadly shot with equal élan.

Kidambi fended off the reigning champion with every play in the book returning with a brilliant volley that won him the second set.

He carried the same momentum into the decider, taking a lead of 3-0. Dan meanwhile was in no mood to give up. He once again played his signature drop shots and returned to the top reaching 7-5.

By now, the Indian shuttler had understood Dan net game and was ever ready with a dashing rebound for every drop shot played. The battle got neck to neck when the scores levelled at 7-7. The lengthy anxious rallies continued into a nail-biting finish as Kidami trailed 16-17.

The Chinese master, ended an excellent quarter-final match at 21-18 with a final drop shot.  

Earlier, PV Sindhu qualified for the semi-final in the women's singles event after beating World No. 2.