World Championship bronze medallist HS Prannoy made a shock opening-round exit from the China Open Super 1000 badminton tournament after going down in three games to Malaysia’s Ng Tze Yong here on Tuesday. The world No. 6 Indian toiled hard for one hour six minutes before losing 12-21, 21-13, 18-21 to the 22nd ranked Malaysian.

Lakshya Sen also crashed out of the tournament in the first round after losing to Anders Antonsen of Denmark in three games — 21-23, 21-16, 9-21 — in one hour and 18 minutes.

Prannoy was unable to find his rhythm in the first game. The 31-year-old, however, came back stronger in the second game to force a decider.

In the final game, the Indian badminton player failed to maintain the intensity and lost the 66-minute affair.

Priyanshu Rajawat then went down 13-21, 24-26 to Indonesia’s Shesar Hiren Rhustavito. With that, the Indian challenge ended in the men’s singles.

The women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand lost to top seeds Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan of China 18-21, 11-21.

There is no Indian in the women’s singles after PV Sindhu pulled out to focus on the Asian Games.

PTI