Fighting Srikanth bows out of Singapore Super Series

Singapore: Rising Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth`s impressive campaign at the Singapore Super Series finally came to an end as he went down fighting against top seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in the men`s singles semifinals here on Saturday.

Srikanth fought valiantly against the world number one Lee before running out of steam to lose the contest 19-21 18-21 in 42 minutes at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Lee play qualifier Simon Santoso of Indonesia in the summit clash on Sunday. Santoso stunned fifth seed Pengyu Du of China 16-21 21-17 21-17 in the other semifinal. Against Lee, Srikanth made a bright start and gave his fancied opponent a run for his money from the beginning. It was a neck-and-neck affair between Srikanth and Lee in the first game and from 15-16 down at one stage, the Indian rode on his smashes to take a 19-16 lead. But just when it seemed Srikanth will pocket the first game, pressure got the better of the Thailand Open champion Indian as he committed a number of unforced errors -- four in succession -- to hand the game to Lee. With a 1-0 lead under his belt, Lee started to play more freely in the second game and took a huge 15-8 lead before extending the margin to 19-12. But Srikanth was in no mood to give up without a fight as he clawed his way back into the match by pocketing six out of the next seven points to reduce the gap and sent some shivers into Lee`s camp. Lee, however, kept his composure and sealed the affair in his favour by pocketing the next two points. With Srikanth`s loss, India`s challenge came to an end in the USD 30,00,000 tournament.