Mixed day for Indian shuttlers in Singapore

New Delhi: Olympic-bound P Kashyap lost in the first round as Indian shuttlers endured a mixed opening day in the Singapore Open on Wednesday.

Kashyap lost 12-21, 18-21 to second seed Hyun Il Lee of Korea in 37 minutes to bow out of the event. However, Ajay Jayaram, Anand Pawar and RMV Gurusaidutt notched up victories to enter the men's singles second round.

While Ajay defeated Frenchman Brice Leverdez 21-12, 21-14, Anand rallied to get the better of Guatemala's Kevin Cordon 12-21, 21-11, 21-19.

P Kashyap lost in the first round as Indian shuttlers endured a mixed opening day.

Gurusaidutt, on the other hand, defeated local favourite Zi Liang Derek Wong 21-12, 21-13. He will face Thailand's Boonsak Ponsana in the second round.

Among the disappointing results for India was the loss of Sourabh Verma, who went down 24-22, 12-21, 10-21 to Yun Hu of Hong Kong. Promising youngster PV Sindhu also made first-round exit, losing to China's Xiao Jia Chen 16-21, 12-21.

The doubles competition also brought mixed results for India with the women's team emerging winners even as the men's combination bowed out.

Commonwealth Games gold-medallist pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa took just 21 minutes to oust local hopes Jiayuan Chen and Juan Gu 21-9, 21-8.

Gutta and Ponnappa will now be up against the eighth-seeded Singaporean combine of Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii.

But Malaysians Thien How Hoon and Wee Kiong Tan handed a 21-9, 21-13 drubbing to Tarun Kona and Arun Vishnu in the opening round.

In the mixed doubles event, Kona and Ponnappa proved no match to the Japanese team of Noriyasu Hirata and Miyuki Maeda, losing 15-21, 17-21.

(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)