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Young P V Sindhu went down after a gallant fight in the opening round, but London Olympics quarter-finalist Parupalli Kashyap kept Indian hopes afloat with a straight-games win to reach the second round of the China Open, in Shanghai, on Wednesday.
Commonwealth bronze medallist Kashyap, who had a month's break after winning the Senior National Championship in Srinagar, was the only bright spot for India in the men's singles, as all other Indians bowed out of the tournament after losing their opening contests.
World No 23 Kashyap needed 37 minutes to notch a 21-15, 21-15 victory over Sweden's Henri Hurskainen.
The Indian men's doubles pair of Tarun Kona and Arun Vishnu also won easily, beating Mongolia's Erdenebayar Enkhbold and Zolzaya Munkhbaatar 21-2, 21-4 to reach the second round in an otherwise dismal day.
In the women's singles, returning to action after over a month due to a knee problem, Sindhu fought fiercely against world No 14 Eriko Hirose before going down 20-22, 21-14, 19-21 to the Japanese in 66 minutes.
Among other Indians, Ajay Jayaram suffered an 18-21, 21-16, 14-21 loss to Malaysia's Daren Liew, while RMV Gurusaidutt also went down fighting to Takuma Ueda 21-11, 13-21, 11-21 in men's singles contests.
The Indonesian pair of Alvent Yulianto Chandra and Markis Kido put paid to the hopes of India's men's doubles combo of Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy B, winning 21-17, 13-21, 21-11 in 34 minutes, while the mixed doubles pair of Akshay Dewalkar and Pradnya Gadre was also a first casualty, losing to top seeds Chen Xu and Jin Ma of China 5-21, 17-21.
Arun Vishnu and Aparna Balan also could not cross the first hurdle, losing to Denmark's Mads Pieler Kolding and Kamilla Rytter Juhl 9-21, 19-21 in another mixed doubles match.
Another men's doubles combo of Pranaav Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar also bowed out after a 25-27, 17-21 defeat to the Chinese pair of Xiaolong Liu and Zihan Qiu.