Top Indian shuttler K Srikanth played out of his skin before going down fighting against Olympic champion Chen long of China in the pre-quarterfinals, drawing curtains on India's campaign at the German Open Grand Prix Gold here.
The 12th seeded Indian lost 19-21, 20-22 in a 47-minute men's singles match here last night.
Srikanth, on a comeback trail after recovering from an ankle injury, blew 12-6 and 16-12 leads in the two games to go down against the second seed, who is also a two-time World champion and All England champion.
In the opening game, Srikanth had opened up a 3-0 lead early on and jumped to a 12-6 healthy lead at one stage but Chen fought back to slowly recover his lost ground and turned the tables with a four-point burst to reach a 19-17 lead to pocket the first game.
In the second game, Chen moved ahead 9-5 but Srikanth reeled off seven straight points to get the lead. He kept his nose ahead but the Chinese marched ahead with a six-point burst and won.