Kallang [Singapore], June 7 (ANI): India's star men's doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, currently world No. 5 in the badminton rankings, suffered a heartbreak with a first-round exit in the Singapore Open 2023 after losing to Japan's Akira Koga and Taichi Saito on Wednesday.
The Indian duo went down to the unseeded and world No. 24 Japanese pair 18-21, 21-14, 18-21 in a game that lasted for one hour and eight minutes.
The pairs displayed strong grit and intent as they refused to go down easily. But, the Japanese duo shifted through the gears after the scores were level at 16-16. They won five of the last seven points to take a 1-0 lead in the match. The duo made a strong comeback in the second game but ended up losing the final set.
Later in the day, world No. 15 Gayatri Gopichand-Treesa Jolly also suffered a similar fate in the women's doubles. They lost to world No. 28 Yeung Nga Ting and Yeung Pui Lam of Hong Kong China in a close 14-21, 21-18, 19-21 encounter, in their opening round of the event.
India's Olympic medallists PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal, along with HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen, also bowed out of the competition in the first round on Tuesday.
Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth and his Thomas Cup 20222 teammate Priyanshu Rajawat will try to keep the Indian flag flying in the tournament, as they play their men's singles round of 16 matches on Thursday. (ANI)
