Sindhu, Saina make first-round exit from Malaysia Open

Rio Olympic silver-medallist PV Sindhu suffered a major setback as she crashed out of the Malaysia Open Super Series Premier tournament after going down Chen Yufei of China in the women's singles event here on Wednesday.

After comfortably winning the first game against her Chinese opponent, sixth-seed Sindhu went down in the second to force the match into the final game, which was eventually sealed by Yufei.

The final score of the clash, which lasted one hour and eight minutes, read 21-18, 19-21, 17-21, in favour of the Chinese star.

Recently, Sindhu defeated Spain's Carolina Marin 21-19, 21-16 to clinch her maiden India Open title in New Delhi.

Meanwhile, ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal also knocked out of the tournament after suffering a 21-19, 13-21, 15-21 defeat against fourth-seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan that lasted for an hour.

In the men's singles event, Ajay Jayaram advanced to the pre-quarterfinals after clinching a comfortable 21-11, 21-8 win over China's Qiao Bin in the clash that lasted about half an hour.

The Indian pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy also made an early exit from the tournament after suffering a 21-18, 18-21, 17-21 defeat at the hands of Chinese Taipei's Liao Kuan Hao and Lu Chia Pin in their men's doubles clash.