Bangkok [Thailand], January 31 (ANI): Shuttler Unnati Hooda and four other Indian single players failed to make it to the main draw of the ongoing Thailand Masters 2023 after defeats in qualifiers.
The 15-year-old Unnati, who had clinched the Odisha Open 2022, lost the first-round match to local talent Pornpicha Choeikeewong 21-17, 21-23, 16-21.
Indian badminton players Keyura Mopati and Prerana Neeluri lost their respective qualifiers as well to Indonesia's Insyirah Khan and Thamonwan Nithiittikrai, respectively, as per Olympics.com.
Men's singles players also failed to cross the first hurdle as well. Kartikey Gulshan Kumar lost the opening match to Hong Kong's Chan Yin Chak 16-21, 12-21 and Sathish Kumar was downed by Chinese Taipei's Chi Yu Jen in two straight games as well by 18-21, 14-21.
Unnati's doubles campaign also witnessed a premature end as she and her Palak Arora lost their qualifying match to South Korea's pair of Lee Yu Lim and Shin Seung Chan 15-21, 12-21.
In the men's doubles main draw, India's PS Ravikrishna and Sankar Prasad Udaykumar lost to Chinese Taipei's Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan 21-16, 18-21, 10-21.
Ishaan Bhatnagar and Sai Pratheek K were the only victors in the tournament, defeating USA's Vinson Chiu and Joshua Yuan 21-18, 21-12.
In a shocker during the women's doubles competition round of 32, the Indian pair of Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly, the third seeds at the BWF Super 300 tournament, lost to Japan's Rena Miyaura and Ayako Sakuramoto by 9-21, 10-21.
Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa lost to China's Tan Ning and Xia Yu Ting by 15-21, 18-21. (ANI)
