India Open 2023: Aakarshi Kashyap crashes out in first round

NEW DELHI: Indian shuttler Aakarshi Kashyap crashed out of the ongoing India Open 2023, losing to USA's Beiwen Zhang in the first round of the women's singles category on Wednesday.

Kashyap lost the match within two straight games by margin of 15-21, 12-21. The Indian looked a little off-colour and could not compete against the American challenge.

On the other hand, the Indian women's doubles duo of Ashwini Bhat K and Shikha Gautam also lost their first-round match against the Malaysian duo of Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan.

The Malaysian duo prevailed by 8-21, 11-21. Notably, Olympic medalist PV Sindhu made a shocking first-round exit from the ongoing India Open 2023, losing to Thailand's Supanida Katethong in Delhi on Tuesday.

Sindhu lost the match 21-14, 22-20. In the first game, Sindhu tried to put up a fight but fell way short.

The second game was closer, but the Indian lost that as well to make an exit from the tournament.

Defending champion Lakshya Sen made a winning start at the India Open 2023 after storming past HS Prannoy in an all-Indian clash at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Sen defeated Prannoy 21-14, 21-15 in the men's singles to settle his score against the World No 9 after he had suffered a defeat in the Malaysia Open earlier this month.

He will now take on Denmark's Rasmus Gemke, who got the better of former World No 1 Kento Momota of Japan 21-15, 21-11 in the first match of the day.

Among the other Indians in the fray, the women's doubles combination of Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly had to hold their nerves to get the better of the French combination of Margot Lambert and Anne Tran 22-20, 17-21, 21-18.

They will now face the Chinese sixth-seeded combination of Zhang Shu Xian and Zheng Yu, who defeated Ashna Roy and Haritha MH 21-4, 21-2.

Earlier, India's star men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty made a winning start to their India Open title defence with a win over Scotland duo of Christopher and Matthew Grimley in the first round at Delhi on Tuesday.

Rankireddy-Shetty downed the Scottish duo by 21-13, 21-15. The Indian duo, who are defending their men's doubles title, looked in top form, eliminating their opponent from the competition in just two games.

Also, the Indian mixed doubles duo of Ishan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto crashed out of the competition in the first round itself. They lost to the Netherlands duo of Robin Tabeling and Selena Piek by 21-11, 21-12.

Also, the Indian women's doubles duo of Haritha Manazhiyil Harinarayanan and Ashna Roy were eliminated from the competition after a one-sided loss of 21-4, 21-2 to China's Zhang Shuxian and Zheng in the first round. The India Open is taking place in KD Jadhav Indoor Hall in Delhi from January 17-22 this year.