Saina Nehwal handed first round defeat at Asian meet

Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal crashed out after a first-round defeat, but P Kashyap and Anand Pawar kept India's hopes afloat, wining their opening men's singles matches in the Asian Badminton Championship in Suwon, Korea, on Wednesday.

World No 8 and seventh seed Saina put up a brave effort but eventually ran out of steam against defending champion Jiang Yanjiao of China, losing 21-14, 14-21, 12-21 in a 40-minute battle in the women's singles.

World number 13 and third seed Chetan Anand also suffered a straight-games defeat against little-known Kozai Kazuteru of Japan in the first round. The Indian lost 13-21, 19-21 in 30 minutes.

P Kashyap and Anand Pawar turned out to be the stars of the day, as they won their respective matches.

Kashyap spanked Nepal's Rana Kishor 21-7, 21-7 to set up a clash with 15th seed Korean Hong Ji Hoon, who beat Teav Yongvannak of Cambodia in the first round.

Pawar also had an easy outing against Cambodian Mao Chanthan, winning 21-5, 21-3 in 15 minutes. He faces seventh seed Vietnamese Nguyen Tien Minh later on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, India's mixed doubles pair of V Diju and Jwala Gutta continued their dream run, thrashing Zakharov Mikhail and Suleyeva Karina of Kazakhstan 21-6, 21-6 in 15 minutes.

In another match, Taiwan's Chiang Pei Hsin made short work of Aditi Mutatkar, winning 21-13, 21-11 in 20 minutes, to draw curtains on India's women's singles challenge.