Ace Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth were knocked out of the tournament in the first round of the season-opening Malaysia Open on Tuesday.
Saina, a two-time Commonwealth Games champion who suffered multiple injuries and a lack of form in 2022, lost 12-21 21-17 12-21 to Han Yue of China in the Super 1000 tournament.
Playing at the Axiata Arena in the first tournament of the BWF World Tour 2023 season, Saina Nehwal, the world No. 30 in BWF Rankings, stormed back into the contest after going down in the first game.
However, the Indian badminton player was unable to maintain his intensity against the world No. 11 opponent and ultimately lost the match.
Saina Nehwal, a London 2012 Olympic bronze medalist, has been in poor form recently, reaching only one quarter-final in 14 tournaments in 2022.
Kidambi Srikanth was also eliminated in the first round of the men's singles at the Malaysia Open. The world championships silver medalist, ranked 13th, lost 19-21, 14-21 to world No. 17 Kenta Nishimoto of Japan.
Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly won India's only match on the first day of the competition. The Indian duo, who won bronze at the Commonwealth Games 2022, advanced to the round of 16 by defeating Hong Kong's Yeung Nga Ting and Yeung Pui Lam 21-14, 21-19.
In the next round, Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly will face Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva of Bulgaria. The unseeded Bulgarian team defeated Malaysia's world No. 6 pair Pearly Tan and Muralitharan Thinaah in their first match.
Aakarshi Kashyap, a women's singles player, and Krishna Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Panjala, a men's doubles pair, were also eliminated after losing their respective round of 32 matches in the BWF Super 1000 tournament.
While Aakarshi Kashyap was defeated by Chinese Taipei's Wen Chi Hsu 10-21, 8-21, Krishna Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Panjala were defeated by South Korea's Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae 21-10, 21-18 in the first round of men's doubles.
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu will face Carolina Marin in her opening match on Wednesday while in men's singles, Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy will battle it out for a spot in the round of 16.
World Championships bronze medallists Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy will lock horns with South Korea's Choi Sol Gyu and Kim Won Ho in the men's doubles match.
( With inputs from ANI )
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