Singapore Open: Manjunath Foils ‘Favourite Player’ Kidambi
Three top-of-the-lung screams followed by a pumped fist were enough to tell spectators at the Singapore Indoor Stadium what a win over Kidambi Srikanth meant to Mithun Manjunath.
· PREM KUMAR
For the 60 minutes that preceded, the 24-year-old kept his composure to defeat the seventh seed, who captained India to their first Thomas Cup glory in May, 21-17 15-21 21-18 in the Singapore Open 2022 first round.
In the post-match interview, an elated Manjunath said: “He’s my favourite Indian player. Beating him is a big moment, that too at an event of this magnitude. I played a fantastic match in very tricky conditions against the best player in India.
Asked how he pulled off the result, the world No.77 said: “I managed the drift well. I kept the shuttle in the middle, not to the lines because the drift was going out. Once I had the momentum, I just had to maintain it.”