London Olympics bronze medalist Saina Nehwal won her opening match, but Lakshya Sen and B Sai Praneeth made the first round of the Badminton Asia Championships here on Wednesday.
Saina, who was making a comeback after recovering from some nagging injuries, took a 21-15 17-21 21-13 victory over South Korea’s Sim Yujin.
But the bronze medal winner of the world championships Sen was stunned by China’s unseeded Li Shi Feng.
The fifth-seeded Indian lost 21-12 10-21 19-21 in his first-round men’s singles match that lasted 56 minutes.
World No. 19 Praneeth suffered a straight game 17-21 13-21 defeat to Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie.
It also marked the end of the road for Aakarshi Kashyap, who lost 15-21 9-21 in the women’s singles against the Japanese top division Akane Yamaguchi.
Both the women’s doubles Ashwini Bhat K and Shikga Gautam and Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker also made the opening round after losing in straight games.
While Bhat and Gautam 19-21 12-21 went down to Anna Ching Yik Cheong and Teoh Mei Xing
from Malaysia, Singhi and Thaker lost 15-21 11-21 to seventh seed Malaysian pair Pearly Tan and Muralitharan Thinaah.
Later in the day, PV Sindhu, Malvika Bansod and Kidambi Srikanth come into action in their respective singles matches.
