Defending champion Srikanth crashes out while Saina enters RD 2 of India SS

DEFENDING CHAMPION KIDAMBI SRIKANTH bows out of the India Open Super Series after losing to Tian Houwei in a thrilling three games encounter, 13-21, 21-17, 22-24. Though the Indian showed grit to get back in the match by winning the second game, he eventually lost to the mighty seventh seed Chinese.

Meanwhile, second seed Saina Nehwal, defending champion in the women's singles category, had an easy win over fellow-Indian shuttler Tanvi Lad to enter round two. The second seed outclassed Tanvi to win the match in straight games 21-7, 21-13. She next faces Thai shuttler Nitchaon Jindapol and the Indian dominates their head-to-head count, 4-0.

PV Sindhu too had an easy outing over Jeanine, winning in straight games 21-8, 21-8. She will next face Busanan in round two and the head-to-head count favours the Indian, 5-0. On the other hand, youngster Ruthvika Gadde lost to Wang Shixian in straight games 10-21, 14-21.

Other men's singles shuttler who had to bow out were Ajay Jayaram, Sai Praneeth, HS Prannoy and Sourabh Varma after losing their individual matches. Jayaram was defeated by German shuttler Marc Zwiebler in three games, 12-21, 21-13, 19-21. The Indian fought hard to win the second game and forced the match into the decider but finally succumbed to defeat. Praneeth lost to Indonesian shuttler Sony Dwi Kuncoro in straight games 22-20, 21-13.

Prannoy went down against Tanongsak of Thailand in three games, 21-23, 21-18, 13-21. Varma was thrased by Lin Dan 18-21, 9-21. That was the end of the road for men's singles shuttlers in this tournament.

It was a good outing for the men's doubles shuttlers. Manu Attri/Sumeeth Reddy defeated Indian counterparts Vineeth Manuel/S Sanjeeth 21-13, 21-13 to set up a clash against Cheng Hung Ling/Chi-Lin Wang of Taipei in round two.

Jishnu Sanyal/Shivam Sharma beat Egyptian duo of Ali Ahmed El Khateeb/Abdelrahaman Kashkal 21-6, 21-11 and will face Lee Sheng Mu/Tai Chia Hsin in the second round. Akshay Dewalkar and his partner Pranaav Jerry Chopra ousted Arjun Kumar Reddy/Santosh Ravuri 21-17, 21-16 and will be up against second seeds Korean pair Kim Gi Jung/Kim Sa Rang.

In the mixed doubles category, Manu Attri/Ashwini Ponnappa tasted yet another win over Kapil Chaudhary/Smriti in an easy encounter 21-7, 21-13 and will face Zhang Wen/Jia Yifan of China.

The duo of Pranaav/Sikki Reddy defeated Koreans Solgyu Choi/Eom Hye Won 21-17, 17-21, 21-14 and will face the Chinese pair of Wang Yilyu/Chen Qingchen. Venkat Gaurav Prasad/Juhi Dewangan ousted Kashish Sharma/Jagriti Nashier 21-11, 21-17 to face Liu Yuchen/Tang Jinhua of China in round two.

Jwala Gutta/Ashwini Ponnappa exited the tournament after losing to Go Ah Ra/Yoo Hae Won 21-17 14-21 17-21. Meanwhile, Ch. Poornima/Rachita Sahdev enter round two and will face Mohita Sahdev/Sanjana Santosh. Mohita/Sanjana defeated Smriti Nagarkoti/Parssa Naqvi 21-19, 21-7.

The other women's doubles pair to qualify was Gauri Asaji/Karishma Wadkar who defeated Nimmi Patel/Saruni Sharma 27-25, 21-18 and will next face top seeds Nitya Krishinda Maheswari/Greysia Polii from Indonesia.