Indian challenge in Malaysian Open ends

Indian men and women, including best bets Chetan Anand and Aparna Popat, made their exit from the Malaysian Open badminton tournament on Thursday.

Anand was the only Indian to have made it as far as the third round. He upset former champion Ong Ewe Hock of Malaysia 15-6, 15-3 in the second round before succumbing to Kenneth Jonassen of Denmark 15-11, 9-15, 4-15 in the third.

Abhinn Shyam Gupta, the reigning national champion, lost in the second round to another home challenge, Sairul Amar Ayob, 9-15, 9-15.

In the women's section, Aparna Popat rallied to beat Germany's Nicole Grether 11-5, 8-11, 11-0 in the first round.

But she ran into a tougher opponent in Gong Ruina of China in the next and went down in straight games, 5-11, 3-11.