Former #1 badminton player in the world Saina Nehwal fell out of Malaysia Open 2023 after losing to Han Yue of China on Tuesday in the first round of the women’s singles in Kuala Lumpur.
Playing at the Axiata Arena in the first event of the 2023 BWF World Tour season, Saina Nehwal, ranked BWF world No. 30, returned to competition after falling down in her first match. However, the Indian badminton player was unable to maintain the intensity against the world No. 11 opponent and eventually lost the match 12-21, 21-17, 12-21.
Saina Nehwal, London 2012 Olympic bronze medalist, has been in poor form lately, having only managed to reach one quarter-final in the 14 tournaments she played in 2022.
Kidambi Srikanth also faced an early exit in men’s singles at the Malaysia Open. World Championships silver medalist 13th dropped to world No. 17 Kenty Nishimoto of Japan 19-21, 14-21.
A pair of women’s doubles Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly it recorded India’s only win on opening day. The Indian duo that won bronze at the 2022 Commonwealth Games defeated Yeung Ng Ting and Yeung Pui Lam of Hong Kong 21:14, 21:19 to advance to the round of 16.
Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly will face Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva from Bulgaria in the next round. In the opening match, the unseeded Bulgarian team defeated the world’s sixth pair of Malaysia, Pearly Tan and Muralitharan Thinaah.
Women’s singles Aakarshi Kashyap and men’s doubles pair Krishna Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Panjala were also eliminated after losing their respective round of 32 matches of the BWF Super 1000 tournament.
While Aakarshi Kashyap lost to Wen Chi Hsu of China’s Taipei 10-21, 8-21, Krishna Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Panjala lost to South Korea’s Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae 21-10, 21-18 in the first round of men’s doubles.
Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu will face Karolina Marin in her first match on Wednesday, while Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy will battle for a spot in the round of 16.
In men’s doubles, bronze medalists of the world championships Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy they will face Choi Sol Gyu from South Korea and Kim Won Ho.
The Malaysia Open 2023 will end on January 15. No Indian has ever won a medal at the Malaysia Open.
