Singapore Open 2023: Satwik-Chirag & Jolly-Gopichand pairs bow out in opening round

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Kallang (Singapore), June 7: India's top doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty crashed out of the Singapore Open 2023 after defeat in the opening round at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore on Wednesday (June 7).

The Indian pair, who have been on the rise since 2021,were stunned by Japan's Akira Koga and Taichi Saito in the first round of the men's doubles competition.

The fifth seeded Indian duo lost to the unseeded Japanese pair 18-21, 21-14, 18-21 in a match that lasted for an hour and eight minutes on Court 1 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

The Commonwealth Games gold medallists fought back after dropping the first game 18-21, to force the decider with a 21-14 win in the second, but suffered a defeat in the third game by a similar scoreline to the first essay.

Later on Wednesday (June 7), the top women's doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also went down fighting to Hong Kong pair Yeung Nga Ting & Yeung Pi Lam.

The Indian pair suffered a 14-21, 21-18, 19-21 loss to the Hong Kong pair in the women's doubles first round match that lasted for an hour and six minutes on Court 2.

The doubles pairs join the likes of PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy in bowing out of the Singapore Open 2023 in the first round of their respective events. On Tuesday (June 6), at least five shuttlers from the country made an early exit.

The two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu went down fighting to top seed Akane Yamaguchi in a match that ended 18-21, 21-19, 21-17 in favour of the Japanese.

Saina Nehwal, on the other hand, lost in straight games to seventh seeded Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand by a scoreline of 13-21, 15-21, while Akarshi Kashyap went down via straight games to another Thai in the form of Supanida Katethong by 17-21, 9-21.

Prannoy suffered a straight games loss to third seeded Kodai Naraoka of Japan by a scoreline of 15-21, 19-21. Lakshya Sen also bowed out despite winning the first game against Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien-chen, losing by 21-18, 17-21, 13-21.

While five singles and one doubles team has ended their run early, Kidambi Srikanth, Priyanshu Rajawat and doubles pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila have progressed to the second round matches, which will take place on Thursday (June 8).