Shanghai: Fourth seed Saina Nehwal made a shock first-round exit from the China Open as the Indian challenge ended in the singles events of the prestigious badminton tournament on Wednesday.
Saina made a strong start by winning the first game but went on to lose 21-15- 22-24 15-21 to Korean Youn Joo Bae in the women's singles match after battling for one hour and one minute.
There is no Indian left in the men's singles event as Parupalli Kashyap lost 17-21 16-21 to Japan's Kenichi Tago in 46 minutes in his first-round match.
Adding to the disappointment of the Indian camp, Ajay Jayaram then lost his men's singles first-round match 18-21 19-21 to Hong Kong's Wing Ki Wong.
However, Jwala Gutta and V Diju kept the Indian tricolour flying by winning their first round in the mixed doubles. They defeated the Indonesian team of Debby Susanto and Muhammad Rijal 21-17 21-16 in a half-an-hour contest.
Jwala, teaming up with Ashwini Ponappa, also advanced to the women's doubles second round after defeating Australia's Leanne Choo and Renuga Veeran 21-15 21-16.
But the Indian challenge ended in the men's doubles event following the defeat of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas. They lost 12-21 14-21 to the fifth seed Malaysian pair of Kien Keat Koo and Boon Heong Tan.
RMV Gurusaidutt and Arvind Bhat had lost in the men's singles qualifiers. Gurusaidutt had lost 21-13 16-21 21-23 to China's Yi Lu while Bhat failed to cross the qualifying hurdle after losing 13-21 14-21 to China's Kai Wen.
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