Saina Nehwal crashes out of German Open Grand Prix

Mulheim an der Ruhr, Germany, Mar 1 (UNI) Saina Nehwal crashed out of the German Open Grand Prix badminton tournament, losing to higher-ranked Juliane Schenk of Germany 16-21, 21-19, 21-19 in women's singles first round here.

The world number 33 Indian began with a flourish and took the first game 21-16 agianst her opponent, ranked five places higher to her.

But, Saina succumbed to relentless pressure from the German who took the next two games 21-19, 21-19 and won the match in 48 minutes last night.

Saina's loss followed the early exit of compatriot top man shuttler Chetan Anand, who was upset by Erwin Kellhoffner of France in the first round.

Chetan, seeded 13th in the tournament, lost 18-21, 20-22 to the Frenchman ranked more than 40 places below him.

Other Indians, P Kashyap and Nikhil Kanetkar also fell to their more fancied opponents in the other first round matches.

While Kashyap gave a semblance of fight to world number 33 Kaspar Oedum of Denmark in his 16-21, 20-22 loss, Kanetkar went down tamely 16-21, 14-21 against ninth seeded Lee Hui Kendrick of Singapore.

However, Anup Sridhar and Anand Pawar saved the day for the Indians in the singles and sailed into the second round overcoming early jitters.

Sridhar clawed his way back from one game down to beat Indonesian qualifier Andreas Adityawarman 18-21, 21-9, 23-21 in a 44-minute contest, while Pawar overcame Malaysia's Sairul Amar Ayob 19-21, 21-14, 21-18 in 48 minutes.

In men's doubles, Indian duo of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas also won their opening matches, beating German pair of Kristof Hopp and Ingo Kindervater 19-21, 21-12, 23-21.

Shruti Kurian and Jwala Gutta needed just 20 minutes to send Australian pair of Susan Dobson and Tania Luiz packing 21-10, 21-13 in women's doubles.

UNI