Malaysia Open 2023: Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth lost in the first round

The Indian team has made a disappointing start in the Malaysia Open 2023. India's star badminton players Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth were knocked out in the first round of the tournament in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday. India's hopes have dwindled further since both of them were ruled out of the tournament.

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This is not a good sign for India in the Malaysia Open 2023 Super 1000 tournament. Saina, a two-time Commonwealth Games champion, suffered a defeat at the hands of China's Han Yue. Due to injury and poor form, Saina could not perform well last year as well. Saina Nehwal, who won a medal in the big tournament for India, lost a margin of 21-12, 17-21, 21-12. After the defeat in the first match, Saina has suffered a loss in the world rankings as well. She has slipped to 30th place.

Whereas, former World No. 1 player Kidambi Srikanth faced defeat at the hands of Japan's unseeded Kenta Nishimoto. He lost to Nishimoto 21-19, 21-14. World Championship silver medalist Srikanth, who was struggling with poor form, lost the match in 42 minutes. He fought hard in the first game but Nishimoto took the lead. They tied the scores at 12-12 at one stage in the second game but from then on the Japanese pulled the plug.

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Apart from these two players, Aakarshi Kashyap also crashed out in the first round. She lost 10-21, 8-21 to Chinese Taipei's Hsu Wen-chi. However, the Commonwealth Games 2022 bronze medalist women's doubles pair of Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly registered India's only win on the opening day. They defeated Hong Kong's Yeung Nga Ting and Yeung Pui Lam 21-14, 21-19 to make the round of 16. The men's doubles pair of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala will take on the Korean pair of Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae.