Malaysia open: Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth fall at 1st hurdle

PTI

Kuala Lumpur, January 10

Ace Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth’s woeful run continued as they suffered first-round exits at the Malaysia Open here today.

Nehwal, who battled multiple injuries and a prolonged lean patch last year, went down 12-21 21-17 12-21 to Han Yue of China in the $1,250,000 Super 1000 tournament.

Having lost the first game, world No. 30 Nehwal fought back to force a decider in their women’s singles first-round clash. However, she fell behind as Yue built a sizable lead to win the match comfortably.

It was also curtains for Aakarshi Kashyap, who was outplayed 21-10 21-8 by Wen Chi Hsu of Chinese Taipei.

Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly were the only Indians to win on the first day of the tournament. The Indian duo beat Hong Kong’s Yeung Nga Ting and Yeung Pui Lam 21-14 21-19 to enter the Round of 16 in the women’s doubles.

In the men’s singles, former world No. 1 Srikanth’s surrender was tame. The World Championships silver medallist, who has also been struggling recently, was stunned 21-19 21-14 by the unseeded Kenta Nishimoto of Japan in 42 minutes.

The men’s doubles pair of Krishna Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Panjala lost 10-21 18-21 in their first-round match to South Korea’s Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae.

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