Japan Open: Malvika, Ashmita, Aakarshi bow out in first round

Indian shuttlers Ashmita Chaliha, Malvika Bansod and Aakarshi Kashyap bowed out in the first round of the Japan Open Super 750 at the Yokohama Arena on Tuesday.

While Ashmita went down to top seed Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei, Malvika lost to Ukraine's Polina Buhrova,

Aakarshi, meanwhile, was no match for World No. 15 Korean Kim Ga Eun as she suffered a 13-21, 12-21 defeat in the opening round.

Ashmita went down to top seed Tai Tzu Ying after giving a tough challenge to the Olympic silver medallist. The first game was tied at 13-13.

But the Chinese Taipei shuttler won the first game 21-16 before claiming the second game 21-12 to advance to the second round.

In the other women’s singles draw, Malvika was leading the first game 20-19, but gave away crucial game points and eventually lost the game by 23-21.

In the second game, Malvika made a turnaround by claiming a 17-13 lead but a streak of six straight points by Polina dismantled Malvika.

Malvika eventually suffered a 21-23 and 19-21 defeat.

Later in the day, the Indian mixed doubles pairing of Sathish Kumar Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath went down to the Indonesian combination of Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto and Lisa Ayu Kusumawati 10-21, 18-21.

On Wednesday, Kiran George and Sathish Kumar will kick off their campaign in the men’s single category against Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan and third seed Anders Antonsen of Denmark, respectively.

In mixed doubles, B. Sumeeth Reddy and N. Sikki Reddy will run into the newly formed Danish pair of Jesper Toft and Amalie Magelund.

In women's doubles, the Panda sisters - Rutuparna and Swetaparna - will also face Julie Finne-Ipsen and Mai Surrow of Denmark in their opening-round match.

Top Indian shuttlers like PV Sindhu, HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty gave the tournament a miss.