Orleans, March 18 -- Former World No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth suffered a first-round exit at the Orleans Masters 2026 after going down in straight games to Denmark's Magnus Johannesen in Orleans, France, on Wednesday.

Ranked 30th in the world, Srikanth made a bright start, opening up a 5-2 lead in the first game. However, Johannesen quickly took control, moving ahead 11-6 at the interval before wrapping up the opener 21-12, according to Olympics.com.

The Dane continued his dominance in the second game, overcoming a brief challenge from the Indian to reel off nine consecutive points and seal a 21-10 win in just 26 minutes.

While Srikanth's campaign ended early, several Indian shuttlers progressed to the next round with impressive performance...