Chetan Anand crashes out of World Badminton Championship

Kuala Lumpur, Aug 14 (UNI) Top Indian shuttler Chetan Anand's lean patch continued as he crashed out of the 16th World Badminton Championship, losing to ninth seeded Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia 21-11, 14-21, 18-21 in men's singles first round here today.

Chetan, who had not got past second round in three tournaments last month -- China Super Series, Thailand Open and Philippine Open -- outplayed the higher rated rival in the first game but surrendered the advantage by losing the next two and the match in 47 minutes.

The world number 33 Indian paid the prize for not being able to keep the shuttle inside the court in long rallies in the second and third games though he was far superiorior in smashes.

He sent down 16 smash winners in the whole match as against six by his opponent.

Chetan was at his best in the first game, winning six smashes though Kuncoro was better in the nets.

Chetan, however, failed to match Kuncoro in the second set and lost points in long rallies though he was still better in smashes.

In the tight decider, the higher rated Indonesian outwitted and prevailed over the Indian to take the match.

No other Indian was in action today in the prestigious event.

Anup Sridhar, Saina Nehwal and the men's doubles duo of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas, who all had sailed into the second round by scoring easy victories in their opening round matches yesterday, will have tougher matches tomorrow.

Sridhar, who had beaten Austria's Juergen Koch 21-15, 21-19 in the men's singles first round, will faces eighth seed and reigning Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia in the second round tomorrow.

Saina, who had outplayed Switzerland's Jeanine Cicoginini 21-12, 21-12 in the women's singles opening round, will square up with 13th seed Juliane Schenk of Germany.

Rupesh-Sanave, who defeated French duo of Svetoslav Stoyanov and Mihail Popov 21-9, 21-15 in the first round will meet 14th seeded Indonesian pair of Hendra Gunawan and Joko Riyadi.

Earlier yesterday, country's top women's pair of Jwala Gutta and Shruti Kurian had lost to Swedish pair of Elin Bergblom and Johanna Persson 22-20, 15-21, 18-21 in the first round while Trupti Murgunde had lost to 11th seeded Pui Yin Yip of Hong Kong in women's singles.

UNI