Indian shuttlers disappoint in Taipei Open qualifiers

Indian shuttlers endured a disappointing outing in the qualifiers of the Taipei Open Super 300 tournament, with only Rounak Chouhan progressing to the second round of the men’s singles qualifying round here on Tuesday.

Chouhan, seeded second in the qualifiers, defeated Joshua Nguyen of Canada 21-15, 21-11 to set up a qualifying quarterfinal clash against Chinese Taipei’s Kuan Lin Kuo. All other Indians in the men’s singles qualifiers exited in the opening round.

Rithvik Sanjeevi lost 10-21, 11-21 to the top seed Riki Takei of Japan, while Sankar Subramanian was shown the door by USA’s Garret Tan 17-21, 10-21.

Tushar Suveer fought hard before losing 19-21, 21-16, 12-21 against Chinese Taipei’s Kuan Lin Kuo. The only Indian in the women’s singles qualifier, Aakarshi Kashyap, seeded fourth, lost 15-21, 19-21 against Malaysia’s Kisona Selvaduray.