China Open Badminton 2023: Prannoy, Sen, Rajawat, Jolly-Gopichand Pair Suffer First Round Exits

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Jiangsu (China), September 5: India's HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen and Priyanshu Rajawat made early exit from the China Open Badminton 2023 tournament on Tuesday (September 5) following first round defeats at the Changzhou Olympic Sports Centre Xincheng Gymnasium in Changzhou, Jiangsu, China.

Prannoy, who won the BWF World Championships bronze last month, lost in three games 12-21, 21-13, 18-21 to Malaysia's NG Tze Yong in the men's singles opening round match that lasted for an hour and six minutes on Court 1.

The 31-year-old entered the China Open in great form, but suffered an early set back, going down 12-21 in the first game before forcing the decider with a 21-13 win in the second game. The Malaysian, however, held his nerve to oust the experienced Indian in their first meeting in international competition.

Meanwhile, Orleans Masters 2023 winner Rajawat lost in straight games 13-21, 24-26 to Indonesia's Shesar Hiren Rhustavito in the other men's singles match on Court 3 that went on for 41 minutes.

Also, Lakshya Sen, who was in action later in the day against Denmark's recent World Championships bronze medallist Anders Antonsen, made an early exit after going down fighting 21-23, 21-16, 9-21 to the Dane in the first round match that lasted for an hour and 18 minutes on Court 1.

In women's doubles, Treesa Jolly and Gayathri Gopichand went down in straight games to world number 1 and recent World Champions Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan of China. The Indian doubles pair lost 18-21, 11-21 to the Chinese pair in the first round match that lasted for 46 minutes.

In men's doubles, Dhruv Kapila and MR Arjun went down fighting to Japan's Keiichiro Matsui and Yoshinori Takeuchi in men's doubles first round match. The Indian pair suffered a straight games 21-23, 19-21 loss to the Japanese pair in 47 minutes.

Meanwhile, top men's doubles pair Stawiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty as well as mixed doubles team of Rohan Kapoor and Sikki Reddy will be in first round action on Wednesday (September 6).

While Satwik-Chirag will take on Indonesia's Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Bagas Maulana in men's doubles, Kapoor-Sikki pair will face Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei of Malaysia in mixed doubles.