Indian shuttlers put up a disappointing show as all the five players on view bowed out in the first round of the Denmark Open badminton tournament in Aarhus on Wednesday.
Former All-England champion Pullela Gopichand, national champion Abhinn Shyam Gupta, south-paw Nikhil Kanetkar and qualifiers Chetan Anand and Arvind Bhat lost to higher-ranked opponents.
Gupta and Bhat were the only two Indians who managed to strech their opponents to the decider on a day when Gopichand only managed to win five points from two games.
Gupta went down fighting to seventh seed Soni Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia 4-15, 15-12, 7-15 while Bhat was defeated by 72-ranked Sairul Amar Ayob of Malaysia 8-15, 15-8, 15-9.
In other matches, Chetan Anand lost to Jens Roch of Germany 13-15, 9-15; Gopichand was thrashed by Chen Yu of China 15-3, 15-2 and Kanetkar went down against Przemyslaw Wacha 2-15, 13-15.
While Gopichand, Anand and Bhat entered the main draw after winning their qualifiers, Gupta and Kanetkar had recieved a direct entry.
With all the men shuttlers out of the championship, Indian hopes now rest on women's national champion Aparna Popat, who was promoted to the main draw after the withdrawl of some players.
She will face fifth seed Mia Audina of The Netherlands in the first round.
