Indian shuttlers failed to get past the first round in China Open badminton tournament as Commonwealth Games winner Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy crashed out as they lost 21-17, 11- 21, 21-17 to Indonesia’s world No. 13 pair of Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Maulana Bagas in Changzhou on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, the mixed doubles pair of Rohan Kapoor and N Sikki Reddy also exited from the meet losing 21-15, 21-16 to the Malaysian pair of Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei in the first round.
All Indians competing in the tournament were knocked out in the first round.
Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy combined well and kept sharing points with their rivals .With the scores tied 12-all, the Indonesian pair took a slender lead and controlled the match to take the first game.
The Indians dominated the Indonesian pair in the second game to level the match. However, they failed to carry the momentum into the decider. The Indian duo trailed their rivals and were knocked out in the 68-minute affair to conclude their campaign in the BWF World Tour Super 1000 badminton tournament.
Rohan Kapoor and N Sikki Reddy, were unable to match the intensity of the Malaysian duo of Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei. The Indian badminton pair were knocked out in 39 minutes at the Changzhou Olympic Sports Centre’s Xincheng Gymnasium.
Last evening, World No. 6 HS Prannoy went down 21-12, 13-21, 21-18 against world No. 22 Ng Tze Yong of Malaysia while Prannoy’s compatriot Lakshya Sen, suffered a 23-21, 16-21, 21-9 defeat at the hands of world No.10 Anders Antonsen of Denmark in the first round clashes .
Prannoy was outplayed in the first game by Ng Tze Yong as the Malaysian won the first game comfortably. The 31-year-old Indian Winner of a world championships bronze medal last month, rallied back strongly and dominated his rival in the second game to force a decider.
In the final game, Prannoy and Ng Tze Yong went toe-to-toe early on but the Indian failed to maintain the intensity and lost the 66-minute affair.
Lakshya Sen was involved in an intense battle with world championships bronze medalist Anders Antonsen in the opening game. The Indian lost the closely-fought first game but fought back to win the second game. However, Lakshya failed to sustain the momentum into the decider and bowed out after a 78-minute duel. Priyanshu Rajawat lost 21-13, 26-24 to Indonesia’s Shesar Hiren Rhustavito.
Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly, the only Indian pair in the China Open women’s doubles event, lost 21-18, 21-11 to China’s top-seeded pair of Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan, the Tokyo Olympics silver medalists.
Doubles pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila fought hard before losing 23-21, 21-19 to the Japanese duo of Keiichiro Matsui and Yoshinori Takeuchi in the first round.
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