Former champion Saina Nehwal makes a losing start in Thaihot China Open
( Image Credit : Badminton World Federation)
World No 6 Saina Nehwal of India made an unhappy return to competitive badminton after a three-month layoff fto recuperate from knee surgery when she failed to clear the first round in the USD700,000 Thaihot China Open Superseries Premier in Fuzhou on Wednesday.
The 26-year-old Nehwal, seeded fourth in Fuzhou, was beaten by Thailand's Porntip Buranaprasertsuk ( Image Above) with the Thai lass winning in three sets 21-16, 19-21, 21-14 in 58 minutes.
Nehwal became the first ever Indian woman shuttler to win the China Open in 2014. Her rustiness in the game was understandable after the long layoff following the knee surgery.
It was Nehwal's first match since picked up the injury while playing in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics where she failed to get into the knockout stage of the competition.
However, Nehwal's compatriot and Rio Olympics silver medallist P.V. Sindhu (seeded seven) advanced to the second round with s 21-12, 21-16 win over Taiwan's Lee Chia Hsin while Olympic and world champion Carolina Marin of Spain is also through after knocking out China's Ji Shuting 21-18, 21-15.
It was also day when Thailand's No 2 seed and former world champion Ratchanok Intanon fell by the wayside when she had to retire with injury after only one minute on the court against Japan's Akane Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi was leading 4-0 at that stage.
Japan's Nozomi Okuhara was another who had to retire in the first round while playing Hong Kong's Yip Pui Yin who was leading 11-6 after seven minutes of play.
Japan Open and Frech Open champion He Bingjiao of China had a bright start in Fuzhou but was taken the full distance by compatriot Zhang Yiman before prevailing 20-22, 21-17, 21-19 in a 70-minute match.
The Chinese will next face Nehwal's conqueror Porntip in the second round for a place in the quarter-finals.
Taiwan's No 5 seed Tai Tzu Ying was involved in an hour long battle against Japan's Aya Ohori before winning 21-17, 24-26, 21-10 to advance.
FIRST ROUND RESULTS (SELECTED)
Men's singles
Rajiv Ouseph (Eng) beat Huang Yuxiang (Chn) 24-22, 21-18
Viktor Axelsen (Den) beat Xue Song (Chn) 21-17, 14-21, 21-13
Takuma Ueda (Jpn) beat Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk (Tha) 21-14, 21-13
Ajay Jayaram (Ind) beat Zhu Shyan (Chn) 21-19, 20-22, 21-17///
Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin (Mas) beat Lin Yu Hsien (Tpe) 19-21, 21-15, 21-11
H. S. Prannoy (Ind) beat Angus Ng Ka Long (Hkg) 21-13, 21-13
Qiao Bin (Chn) beat Chou Tien Chen (Tpe) 21-11, 21-13
Chen Long (Chn) beat Tommy Sugiarto (Ina) 17-5 (Rtd)
Guo Kai (Chn) beat Kazumasa Sakai (Jpn) 21-14, 11-21, 21-5
Tian Houwei (Chn) beat Hsu Jen Hao (Tpe) 21-18, 21-19
Wei Nan (Hkg) beat Son Wan-ho (Kor) 21-16, 21-23, 21-15
Jan O Jorgensen (Den) beat Wang Tzu Wei (Tpe) 21-18, 21-14
Vincent Wong Wing Ki (Hkg) beat Sony Dwi Kuncoro (Ina) 21-15, 21-8
Marc Zwiebler (Ger) beat B. Sai Praneeth (Ind) 21-16, 21-9
Hu Yun (Hkg) beat Zulfadli Zulkifli (Mas) 21-18, 21-19
Shi Yuqi (Chn) beat Zhao Ju Peng (Chn) 21-14, 21-19
Men's doubles
Mads Conrad-Petersen-Mads Pieler Kolding (Den) beat Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong (Mas) 19-21, 21-17, 21-13
Marcus Fernaldi Gideon-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (Ina) Kim Jae-hwan-Yoo Yeon-seong (Kor) 21-18, 23-21
Chai Biao-Hong Wei (Chn) beat Hiroyuki Endo-Yuta Watanabe (Jpn) 24-22, 19-21, 21-13
Or Chin Chung-Tang Chun Man (Chn) beat Takuto Inoue-Yuki Kaneko (Jpn) 21-18, 13-21, 21-12
Liu Cheng-Zhang Nan (Chn) beat Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong (Mas) 19-21, 21-16, 24-22
Lee Jhe Huei-Lee Yang (Tpe) beat Berry Angriawan-Hendra Setiawan (Ina) 21-19, 21-14
Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen (Den) beat Liao Kuan Hao-Lu Chia Pin (Tpe) 21-10, 20-22, 21-10
Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi (Jpn) beat Li Junhui-Liu Yuchen (Chn) 21-17, 21-15
Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (Den) beat Vladimir Ivanov-Ivan Sozonov (Rus) 19-21, 23-21, 24-22
Women's singles
Zhang Beiwen (USA) beat Hsu Ya Ching (Tpe) 21-16, 21-18
Line Kjaersfeldt (Den) beat Chen Xiaolin (Chn) 21-18, 21-15
Carolina Marin (Spn) beat Ji Shuting (Chn) 21-18, 21-15
Porntip Buranaprasertsuk (Tha) beat Saina Nehwal (Ind) 21-16, 19-21, 21-14
P.V. Sindhu (Ind) beat Lee Chia Hsin (Tpe) 21-12, 21-16
Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) Ratchanok Intanon (Tha) 4-0 (rtd)
Sun Yu (Chn) beat Busanan Ongbamrungphan (Tha) 21-10, 21-18
He Bingjiao (Chn) beat Zhang Yiman (Chn) 20-22, 21-17, 21-19
Shen Ya Ying (Chn) beat Hui Xirui (Chn) 21-19, 14-21, 21-16
Yip Pui Yin (Hkg) beat Nozomi Okuhara (Jpn) 11-6 (rtd)
Tai Tzu Ying (Tpe) beat Aya Ohori (Jpn) 21-17, 24-26, 21-10
Minatsu Mithani (Jpn) beat Gao Fangjie (Chn) 21-17, 21-11
Chen Yufei (Chn) beat Peng Qin (Chn) 21-16, 21-12
Sayaka Sato beat Linda Zetchiri (Bul) 21-14, 21-13
Women's doubles
Anggia Shitta Awanda-Mahadewi Istirani Ni Ketut (Ina) beat Chen Su Yu-Tang Wan Yi (Tpe) 21-12, 21-12
Vivian Hoo-Woon Khe Wei (Mas) beat Lin Xao Min-Wu Fang Chien (Tpe) 21-8, 21-10
Huang Dongpin-Li Yunhui (Chn) beat Chiang Kai Hsin-Hung Shih Han (Tpe) 21-16, 21-17
Gabriela Stoeva-Stefani Stoeva (Bul walkover Bao Yixin-Yu Xiaolin (Chn)
Hsu Ya Ching-Wu Ti Jung (Tpe) beat Chen Lu-Ou Dongni (Chn) 18-21, 21-11, 21-16
Shiho Tanaka-Koharu Yonemoto (Jpn) beat Chen Qingchen-Jia Yufan (Chn) 21-19, 9-21, 21-17
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