Young shuttler P V Sindhu lost a gallant fight in her opening round but London Olympics quarterfinalist Parupalli Kashyap kept India's tricolour fluttering with a straight-game win to reach the second round of the China Open in Shanghai today.
Commonwealth bronze medallist Kashyap, who had taken a month-long break after winning the Senior Nationals Championship in Srinagar, was the only bright spot for India in men's singles as all other Indians bowed out of the tournament after losing their opening contest. World number 23 Kashyap notched up a 21-15 21-15 victory over Sweden's Henri Hurskainen in a 37-minute contest.
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Parupalli Kashyap. Pic/AFP
Indian men's doubles pair of Tarun Kona and Arun Vishnu also notched up an easy 21-2 21-4 win over Mongolia's Erdenebayar Enkhbold and Zolzaya Munkhbaatar to reach the second round in an otherwise dismal day. In women's singles, returning to action after over a month due to a knee problem, Sindhu fought fiercely against world number 14 Eriko Hirose before going down 20-22 21-14 19-21 to the Japanese in an hour and six minutes match.
Among other Indians, Ajay Jayaram suffered a 18-21 21-16 14-21 loss to Malaysia's Daren Liew, while RMV Gurusaidutt also went down fighting to Takuma Ueda 21-11 13-21 11-21 in men's singles contests. Indonesian pair of Alvent Yulianto Chandra and Markis Kido put paid to the hopes of India's men's doubles combo of Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy B 21-17 13-21 21-11 in a 34-minute competition, while mixed doubles combo of Akshay Dewalkar and Pradnya Gadre also became a first round casualty after losing to top seeds Chen Xu and Jin Ma of China 5-21 17-21.
Sinilarly, Arun Vishnu and Aparna Balan also could not cross the first hurdle and lost to Denmark's Mads Pieler Kolding and Kamilla Rytter Juhl 9-21 19-21 in another mixed doubles match. Another men's doubles combo of Pranaav Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar also bowed out after their gallant fight ended in a 25-27 17-21 loss to Chinese pair of Xiaolong Liu and Zihan Qiu in a 52-minute match.u00a0
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