India’s disappointing day at the Thailand Masters continued as Saina Nehwal and H.S. Prannoy were knocked out from the opening round of the women’s singles and men’s singles event respectively on Wednesday.

She lost 13-21, 21-17, 15-21 to Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt in the match which lasted 47 minutes. With the defeat, Nehwal’s hope has further dented.

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The 29-year-old shuttler is currently going through a lean phase in her career. In the recently-concluded Indonesia Masters and Malaysia Masters, she lost in the first round and quarterfinals respectively.

Defending Indonesia Masters champion Saina lost 21-19, 13-21, 5-21 to Sayaka Takahashi in a gruelling fight which lasted for 50 minutes. In the Malaysia Masters, the world number 11 lost to the 2016 Rio Olympics gold medalist Carolina Marin in straight games 21-7, 21-7.

India’s last hope in men’s singles, Prannoy was defeated 21-17, 20-22, 21-19 by Liew Daren of Malaysia. The Indian lost to the lower-ranked opponent in 68 minutes.

Earlier on the day, Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma were also knocked out of the Thailand Masters 2020 after they lost their respective first-round matches.

Fifth-seeded Srikanth lost 21-12, 14-21, 11-21 to Shesar Hiren Rhustavito of Indonesia in the match which lasted 48 minutes to mark his third consecutive first-round exit.

The 26-year-old had endured a similar fate in this year’s Indonesia Masters, where he was defeated by Rhustavito as well, and Malaysia Masters. The defeat has further dented his hope of making it to the Tokyo Olympics 2020.

Verma, on the other hand, was outplayed by Zii Jia in straight games. In the match which lasted 38 minutes, Verma lost 16-21,  15-21.

The defeats for Nehwal and Srikanth are a huge blow of the Indian badminton team as they have not yet qualified for the Olympics. Saina and Srikanth are placed at the 22nd and 23rd spots in BWF’s rankings as April 26 has been set as the deadline date for Tokyo Olympics qualification.

As per BWF Olympics qualification regulations, just a couple of shuttlers each from the singles category could qualify if their ranking lies within the top-16.