Kuala Lumpur, Jan. 16 (PTI): Indian mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy failed to cross the opening hurdle at the season-opening USD 350,000 Malaysia Masters, here today.
Sikki and Pranaav suffered a 18-21 17-21 loss to seventh seed Hong Kong pair of Lee Chun Hei Reginald and Chau Hoi Wahto begin the international season on a disappointing note.
Indo-Malaysian combo of Prajakta Sawant and Yogendran Khrishnan reached the second round of the mixed doubles after getting a walkover from Australian combo of Sawan Serasinghe and Setyana Mapasa.
With the Premier Badminton League coming to an end last Sunday, Indian shuttlers, including P Kashyap and B Sai Praneeth, decided to take part in the Malaysia Masters, which is one of the seven BWF World Tour Super 500 event.
However, it was a dismal start to the international calender for most Indian as they failed to cross the opening hurdle.
In the men’s singles qualifier, Kashyap suffered a 14-21 17-21 loss to Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen, while Subhankar Dey lost 21-11 11-21 9-21 to Denmark’s Kim Bruun.
In women’s doubles qualifiers, Aparna Balan and Sruthi KP lost to Singapore pair of Ong Ren-Ne and Wong Jia Ying Crystal 12-21 21-18 15-21, while Sanyogita Ghorpade and Prajakta Sawant suffered a 20-22 18-21 defeat to Malaysian pair of Chiew Sien Lim and Zhen Yap.
Praneeth will face Kantaphon Wangcharoen tomorrow, while women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy will take on German combo of Johanna Goliszewski and Kaepplein Lara.
