It was a disastrous opening day for Indians in the World badminton championships, as they suffered defeats in the men's singles and doubles, in Birmingham, England, on Monday evening.
National champion Abhinn Shyam Gupta and Nikhil Kanetkar failed to cross the first round in the men's singles, while in the men's doubles, Jaseel P Ismail and Jaison Xavier threw in the towel without a fight.
It was left to the women's duo of Jwalla Gutta and Shruti Kurian to save India from drawing a blank. The pair won their doubles match, beating the Swedish pair of Johanna Persson and Elin Bergblom of Sweden 17-16, 15-6, in 62 minutes.
It was a case of tough luck for Kanetkar, who was making his debut in the World championships, as he was pitted against former World champion Peter Rasmussen of Denmark.
The Indian looked overawed by the very presence of his opponent and lost the first game without much ado. Kanetkar however got his act together and suprised the 1997 World champion by winning the second game. However, in the decider, Rasmussen proved far superior to win at 15-4, 9-15, 15-5 in a little under an hour.
Third seed Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia made short work of Abhinn Shyam Gupta. The Indian champion just failed to put up resistance and went down in straight games.
Hidayat, who is among the title contenders, took 45 minutes for a 15-7, 15-5 victory.
In the men's doubles, it was the same story as Jaseel P Ismail and Jaison Xavier could not cope up with the aggressive display of their Japanese opponents, Keita Masuda and Tadashi Ohtsuka. Ismail and Xavier could snatch only 12 points in two games from their rivals, who are seeded ninth, in a totally one-sided tie.
Masuda and Ohtsuka toyed with the Indians for 28 minutes before winning 15-7, 15-5.
