China Open: Sikki Reddy-Ashwini Ponnappa crash out on opening day

In a major upset, Indian ace shuttlers Sikki Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa crashed out on the opening day of the Fuzhou China Open on Tuesday.

They lost out to Shiho Tanaka and Koharu Yonemoto of Japan in their Round of 32 of the women's doubles event here at Haixia Olympic Sports Center.

The duo suffered a 19-21, 21-15, 17-21 defeat in a match that lasted 70 minutes.

The Japanese pair looked strong right from the opening game after they raced ahead of Indian campaigners in the initial game. Reddy and Ponnappa, however, fought back hard but the effort was not strong enough to chasm the point gap. Eventually, the opponents registered a convincing 21-19 to win the first game.

In the tight second set of the match, Indians improved their performance as they didn't let the opponents hit back. Without wasting much time, the home duo clinched the second set 21-15 and took the game to the deciding round.

Now in the crucial deciding game, the opponents again dominated and showed the door to Indians 21-17 and won the match by 2-1.

Indian campaigners Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy are slated to face Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark in their Round of 32 of the men's doubles event later today.