Continuing the poor run, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth crashed out of Malaysia Open in the first round itself, after losing their respective encounters.
Nehwal's Poor Run
Two-time Commonwealth Games champion Saina, who endured a tough 2022, battling multiple injuries and a lack of form, went down 12-21 21-17 12-21 to Han Yue of China in the USD 1,250,000 Super 1000 tournament.
Having lost the first game, Saina, who has slipped to world number 30, fought back to force a decider in a women's singles first-round match.
However, the 2012 Olympic bronze medallist fell behind as Han built a sizable lead to take the fixture comfortably.
Kidambi's Struggle
Former world number one Srikanth's surrender was tamer. The world championship silver medallist, who has also been struggling for form recently, was stunned by the unseeded Kenta Nishimoto of Japan 19-21 14-21 in 42 minutes.
Srikanth ranked 13th and fought hard in the opening game, but Nishimoto managed to take the lead. The two shuttlers were tied at 12-12 in the second game but the Japanese ran away with the contest from there.
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It was also curtains for Akarshi Kashyap who was outplayed 10-21 8-21 by Wen Chi Hsu of Chinese Taipei in her women's singles opener.
Up Ahead
Later in the day, the women's doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand will take on Hong Kong’s Yeung Nga Ting and Yeung Pui Lam, and, Krishna Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Panjala will open their campaign against South Korea's Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae in the men's doubles first round
(Inputs PTI)
