Only Rupesh-Sanave pair survives in Philippine Open

Manila, July 19 (UNI) Men's doubles pair of Rupesh Kumar and Thomas Sanave handed a 21-15, 21-12 first round drubbing on Chinese Taipei's Chieh Min Fang and Sheng Mu Lee to remain the only surviving Indian shuttlers after the second day of main draw in the Philippine Open here today.

The Indian duo will now meet fourth seeded Albertus Susanto Njoto and Yohan Hadikusumo Wiratama of Hong Kong in the next round.

In the men's singles, Anand Pawar lost his second round tie against top seed Chen Hong of Hong Kong 14-21, 18-21 while women's doubles pair of Saina Nehwal and Aparna Balan went down tamely to Indonesians Meliana Jauhari and Shendy Puspa Irawati 14-21, 14-21 in the first round.

Yesterday, Saina, who won the title here last year, crashed out of the Grand Prix Gold tournament, losing her first round tie against qualifier Zhu Jingjing of China 15-21, 13-21.

The mixed doubles pair of Aparna Balan and V Diju could get past the first round, beating Chinese Taipei duo of Shao Chieh Cheng and Chia Hsin Tsai 14-21, 21-18, 21-17 only to lose in the next round 15-21, 18-21 to Kunchala Voravichitchaikul and Songphon Anugritayawon of Thailand today.

Indians had come up with a disastrous show in the tournament.

None of the men shuttlers, except Pawar, could get past first round in singles.

Chetan Anand, Anup Sridhar, Ajay Jayaram, Nikhil Kanetkar and P Kashyap had exited out of the tournament with straight set first round defeats.

In women's singles, none, except Saina, could qualify for the main draw. Aparna Balan, Jwala P Gutta, Shruti Kurian and Aditi Mutatkar were eliminated in the qualification stages.

UNI