Thailand Open 2013: Young shuttlers fail to impress on Day 1

Young Indian shuttlers failed to make a mark on the first day of the SCG Thailand Open in Bangkok, which covered only the qualifying rounds today.

Third-seeded Indo-Malaysian duo of Prajakta Sawant and Md. Razif Abdul Latif were stunned by Poodchalat Pisit and Narissapat Lam 15-21, 21-16, 13-21 in the first qualifying round.

Shreyansh Jaiswal, did manage to win his first round of the qualifiers by defeating Khai Siang Teoh of Malaysia 21-17, 21-13, but lost his second qualifying round to Nonpakorn Nantatheem 12-21, 19-21.

Prem Singh Chouhan also failed to cross the first hurdle of qualifiers by losing to Kean Yew Loh 17-21, 13-21.

In another men’s singles match, Manish Gupta was outclassed by Sean Lee 18-21, 15-21 in the first qualifying round.

Young talent Neeraj Vashist went down fighting to Boonykorn Thumpanichwong 21-23, 22-20, 17-21 in the opening round encounter of the qualifiers.

Third seed Oscar Bansal was brushed aside by Hyuk Jin Jeon 15-21, 16-21.

Gaurav Venkat, couldn’t stop the losing streak of the Indians today, as he too lost his first qualifying match to Pannawit Thongnuam 10-21, 14-21.

Experienced combination of Jwala Gutta and Prajakta Sawant gave walkover to Chaladchalam Chayanit and Phataimas Muenwong.

Men’s doubles pair of Surender Rathee and Neeraj Vashist were ousted by Chu-En Huang and Chia Yu Lin 13-21, 6-21 in the initial round of the qualifiers.

Manish Gupta and Gaurav Venkat, too, had no clue against Po Yi Huang and Hsiao-Lin Wu 15-21, 13-21 in the first round clash of the qualifiers.

No Indian managed to make it into the main draw via qualifiers. However, the fans should not lose hope and cheer for their star players instead, including Saina Nehwal and Ajay Jayaram, who will play their first round match tomorrow.