Kidambi Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap lost to their respective opponents in the first round of the ongoing Korea Open Super Series on Wednesday. Ajay Jayaram and B Sai Praneeth advanced to the second round.
World No. 10 Srikanth, who was facing Hong Kong's Wong Wing Ki Vincent, currently ranked 20th, lost by scores of 21-10, 22-24, 21-17 after a hard-fought match lasting 55 minutes.
This was Srikanth's second tournament after the Olympics. He had previously reached the quarterfinals of the Japan Open before losing 21-18, 14-21, 19-21 to Germany's Marc Zwiebler.
Kashyap lost 20-22, 21-10, 21-13 to fourth seed Tian Houwei from China in 53 minutes. He had earlier defeated Korea's Ko Gyung Bo and Thailand's Pannawit Thongnuam in the qualification stage to make the main draw.
Jayaram defeated Korea's Jeon Hyeok Jin 23-21, 21-18 in 45 minutes and will next face China's Huang Yuxiang. Praneeth won 21-13, 12-21, 21-15 over Chinese Taipei's Hsu Jen Hao in an hour and two minutes. He will meet Korea's Son Wan Ho in the second round.
Among the other Indians, HS Prannoy was defeated 21-23, 21-17, 21-15 by Wang Tzu Wei from Chinese Taipei. Tanvi Lad, the sole Indian woman participating in the tournament, lost to Denmark's Anna Thea Madsen with scores of 21-18, 13-21, 21-18.
There is no Indian participation in any of the doubles events.