London Olympics bronze medalist Saina Nehwal crashed out of the Orleans Masters badminton tournament after losing to Turkey’s Neslihan Yigit in the first round here on Wednesday. India’s Sameer Verma also lost in the first round while Mithun Manjunath, Aakarshi Kashyap and Priyanshu Rajawat made it to the second round of men’s singles. Saina, who returned to the court after being out of a few tournaments, was beaten by the Turkish qualifier 21 in just 39 minutes. 16, 21. 14 beat. Saina, who was out of the All England Championship, has also slipped to 32nd position in the BWF rankings.
His right knee was bandaged. She did not appear in form even once in the entire match. Verma, on the other hand, lost 19-21, 21-19, 21-17 to Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen. In other men’s singles first round matches, India’s Manjunath beat higher-ranked Viktor Svendsen of Denmark 24-22 25-23 while Rajawat beat compatriot Kiran George 21-18 21-13.
Manjunath will next face Taipei’s Yu Zhen, who managed to advance after fifth seed Rasmus Gemke retired in the second game. Rajawat, on the other hand, will take on top seed Kenta Nishimoto of Japan, who beat Taipei’s Chia Hao Lee 21-18, 21-11 in the second round. In the women’s category, Akarshi defeated Natsuki Nidaira of Japan by 21. 8, 13. 21, 21. beat by 8. Tasneem Mir from Wonne Ltd., Germany 22. 20, 13. 21, 5. Lost to 21.
