Kashyap suffers first round defeat at Singapore Open

Olympics-bound Parupalli Kashyap lost in the first round, as Indian shuttlers endured a mixed opening day at the Singapore Open, on Wednesday.

Kashyap, who shocked top seed Chen Long of China in straight games to make the last eight of the Indonesia Super Series before losing in the semis, was beaten 12-21, 18-21 by second seed Hyun Il Lee of Korea in 37 minutes.

However, Ajay Jayaram, Anand Pawar and RMV Gurusaidutt notched victories to enter the men's singles second round.

While Ajay defeated Frenchman Brice Leverdez 21-12, 21-14, Anand rallied to get the better of Guatemala's Kevin Cordon 12-21, 21-11, 21-19.

Gurusaidutt defeated local favourite Zi Liang Derek Wong 21-12, 21-13 and will face Thailand's Boonsak Ponsana next.

Among the disappointing results for India was the loss of Sourabh Verma, who went down 24-22, 12-21, 10-21 to Yun Hu of Hong Kong.

Promising youngster P V Sindhu also made a first-round exit, losing to China's Xiao Jia Chen 16-21, 12-21.

The doubles competition also brought mixed results for India with the women's team emerging winners even as the men's combination bowed out.

The Commonwealth Games gold-medallist pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa took just 21 minutes to oust local hopes Jiayuan Chen and Juan Gu 21-9, 21-8.

Gutta and Ponnappa will now be up against the eighth-seeded Singaporean combine of Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii.

But Malaysians Thien How Hoon and Wee Kiong Tan handed a 21-9, 21-13 drubbing to Tarun Kona and Arun Vishnu in the opening round.

In the mixed doubles, Kona-Ponnappa were no match for the Japanese team of Noriyasu Hirata and Miyuki Maeda and lost 15-21, 17-21.