Shuttler Srikanth wins group stage opener in Rio

Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Aug 12 : World No. 11 shuttler Kidambi Srikanth kicked off his Rio Olympics campaign with a superb straight games win in the first match of the Group H men's singles event here.

Srikanth, the lone Indian challenge in men's singles, trounced his Mexican rival Lino Munoz 21-11, 21-17 in a contest that lasted over 40 minutes at the Riocentro-Pavilion 4.

He will next face Sweden's Henri Hurskainen for a berth in the round of 16 on Sunday. Earlier, Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu had also won their respective opening games of the group stage in the women's singles event.

However, pairs of Jwala Gutta-Ashwini Ponnappa and and Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy tasted defeats in the group openers of the women's doubles and men's doubles respectively.

Source: ANI