Kidambi Srikanth was shocked by Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen as the Indian fell in the first round of All England Championships on Wednesday. Srikanth was the eighth seed in the tournament and lost 11-21, 21-15, 12-21 against Nguyen in an hour
The 20-year-old put in a seriously impressive performance, defeating the world number 13 Srikanth Kidambi from India. He went to school in Artane, and started playing badminton at the local club with his father. He was born in Vietnam, but left the country for a new life in Dublin, Ireland along with his parents and older sister, when he was six years old.
Nguyen shook the badminton world with the victory, which was not expected at all given he is unseeded in the competition. Nguyen said “I am so happy. For the last year or two I had so many chances to beat top players and I did not take them”.
This All England Open, which features the 160 best players in the world, is taking place in Birmingham with a full complement of players.
Nguyen was the gold medalist at the 2016 European U17 Championships in the boys’ singles event, and also won the bronze medal in the doubles event partnered with Paul Reynolds. At the same year, he clinched the men’s singles title at the Irish National Championships. Nguyen won his first senior international title at the Polish International in the men’s doubles event with Reynolds, after that the men’s singles title at the Welsh International.