China Open: Saina Nehwal crashes out in first round; Kashyap and Sai Praneeth progress

Indian star shuttler Saina Nehwal’s poor run of form continued as she crashed out in the first round of the China Open on Wednesday.

The Olympic bronze-medallist lost the game by 9-21, 12-21 to China's Cai Yan Yan in the women’s singles category.

The clash lasted for just 24 minutes where the current world number nine got outclassed and crashed out from the $700,000 tournament in Fuzou. 

In men’s singles, India's Parupalli Kashyap defeated Thailand’s Sitthikom Thammasin in straight games while Sai Praneeth also defeated Tommy Sugiarto.

While Sai Praneeth made a comeback from being a game down in 52 minutes to knock-out the Indonesian 15-21, 21-12, 21-10. He will be locking horns with Anders Antonsen in the next round. 

In mixed doubles, Indian pair Pranav Jerry Chopra and Sikki Reddy also got knocked out in the first round. The Chinese Taipei duo, Wang Chi-Lin and Cheng Chi Ya cruised to a comfortable 14-21 14-21 victory.

Earlier on Tuesday, PV Sindhu also suffered a loss in the hands of Pai Yu Po of Chinese Taipei in the opening round by 13-21, 21-18, 19-21 in the opening round of the competition.