![\"Kadambi](\"https:\/\/indiansportsnews.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Kadambi-Srikanth.jpg\")
Rio de Janeiro: Adversity brings the best out of you, provided you are prepared to fight and Kidambi Srikanth showed ample of that quality in his quarterfinal match against two-time defending champion Lin Dan in the men’s singles badminton match at the Rio Olympics on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Though he lost the match 6-21, 21-11, 18-21 the World No. 3 Chinese in a nerve-wrecking encounter that lasted for an hour and four minutes, he won many a hearts with his fighting spirit that stretched Dan beyond his imagination. <\/p>\n
Kidambi seemed to have had lost his plot in the first game as the aura and awe of the two-time Olympic champion got over the Indian and he looked nervous early on. He was totally outclassed in the lop-sided opening game (6-21) which lasted just 16 minutes.<\/p>\n
However, Kidambi was a different player in the second game, as he as took a 6-3 lead. He got better with every shot and was six points ahead of the champion Chinese shuttler at the interval. He seized every opportunity that came his way and soon surged to a 10 point lead at 19-10. Though he lost a point, making it 19-11, he won the game with a superb return at the forecourt.<\/p>\n
But the best from the two was yet to come as the third match saw both the players matching each other shot by shot. Though Lin Dan opened up a 2-0 lead, Srikanth came back strong to make it 3-4. Dan took a 5-3 lead before Srikanth levelled it at 6-6 as Lin failed to lift a shot at the net. Thereafter, the Indian surged ahead at 9-8 when Lin Dan hit long and was soon at 11-8 advantage going into the break. <\/p>\n
Srikanth upped his ante and kept Dan on the back-foot, but the experienced Chinese erased the deficit at 13-13. Thereafter, Srikanth let the glory slip from his grasp by committing a couple of unforced error that helped Dan tightened his grip on the game as he took a two point lead at 16-14. Though Srikanth fought for every point, wiining two in between, Dan surged to 19-16 lead. Srikanth pulled one back but netted another to give the match point to the Chinese. Srikanth saved one match point but Dan won the game and match 21-18.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rio de Janeiro: Adversity brings the best out of you, provided you are prepared to fight and Kidambi Srikanth showed ample of that quality in his quarterfinal match against two-time defending champion Lin Dan in the men’s singles badminton match at the Rio Olympics on Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28347,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[11264,466,11404,4571,11623],"class_list":["post-28348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-isn-front-stories","tag-badminton-news","tag-indian-sports-news","tag-kidambi-srikanth","tag-lin-dan","tag-rio-olympics"],"yoast_head":"\n