K. Srikanth faced another major setback after losing out to Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong at the China Masters 2026 in straight sets in the quarterfinals.
Srikanth fought brilliantly but could not prevail against Lee in a 46-minute contest, with the scores reading 16-21, 16-21, thus marking the end of his journey at the BWF World Tour Super 750 event.
After having faced an early elimination at the BWF Championships 2026, this year Srikanth was hoping to do better in China with a decent performance at the China Masters 2026.
But Lee did not let the opportunity go begging by remaining mentally strong in the tight situations, sealing the win and qualifying for the semifinals.
Srikanth Falls Short Against Lee
The initial match saw both contenders getting into a fight for scores at first, but Lee gradually gained control of the situation.
Although Srikanth tried to keep up with him, the player from Hong Kong made a decisive point before finishing the match with a score of 21-16.
The player from India had no other option but to come up with something special during the second match; however, Lee was still the one calling the shots.
Srikanth was showing brief glimpses of the aggressive play that he is known for; however, he could not break the defense of his opponent in the right way.
Lee won the second match with the same score of 21-16, which allowed him to get the overall victory and put an end to Srikanth’s run in the tournament. The Indian player was trying to make a deep run but was defeated by the representative of Hong Kong once again.
While he suffered a loss, Srikanth was able to achieve a major landmark in making it to the quarter-finals. This was the first time he had made it this far in a BWF World Tour Super 750 event or a higher-level event since three years ago.
Nonetheless, the performance has brought to the fore the obstacles the seasoned Indian badminton player faces in trying to get back to consistent winning ways against the top players in the world.
Srikanth will now shift his focus to the next events scheduled in the calendar to recover from back-to-back losses while remembering the positives from the previous tournament campaign.
The Indian shuttler will hope that his quarter-final run serves as a good platform for the upcoming tournaments left in the season.