Saina Nehwal, who won the tournament last year before going through a lean patch, lost 19-21, 13-21, 5-21 to Sayaka Takahashi in 50 minutes.
India's double Olympic medallist P V Sindhu showed great determination to outwit Japan's Aya Ohori in the women's singles opening round, while B Sai Praneeth and Kidmabi Srikanth also advanced to the men's singles second round of the Indonesia Open Super 1000 event, in Bali, on Wednesday.
Ashmita Chaliha produced a gallant fight before the young and inexperienced Indian women's team suffered a 0-3 loss to formidable Japan in the quarterfinals of the Uber Cup badminton tournament in Chengdu on Thursday.
The duo of B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy entered the mixed doubles second round but the other Indian shuttlers, including Priyanshu Rajawat, made early exits
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Indian women shuttlers' progressed to their first-ever final at the Badminton Asia Team Championships after edging out two-time former champions Japan 3-2.
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P V Sindhu, H S Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth booked their places in the quarter-finals of the Malaysia Masters Super 500 tournament.
Sindhu saw off Sim 21-13, 12-21, 21-14 in a 59-minute women's singles second-round match to register her third win over the Korean world number 34.
Indian men's team failed to defend its title after going down fighting 1-3 to China
Set to return after an injury-induced break, two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu is aware the road to Paris will be "challenging" and she needs to be "smarter" in her pursuit of coveted gold medal in the French capital.
Lakshya Sen upset World No 4 Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the round of 32 match at the Malaysia Masters.
PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth secured straight game wins
Fresh from their Korea Open triumph, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will look to continue their dream run.
Sindhu progressed to the quarterfinals with an easy straight-game win over Japan's Aya Ohori
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu and B Sai Praneeth moved into the quarter-finals of Japan Open badminton tournament after registering contrasting wins but it was curtains for H S Prannoy.
Fifth seed Sindhu will now look to avenge her All England loss against Korea's Sung Ji Hyun, whom she faces next, while Srikanth will meet Thailand's Khosit Phetpradab on Thursday.
Rejuvenated after a month-long break from a hectic BWF schedule, Sindhu and Srikanth prevailed over Japanese shuttlers Aya Ohori and Kenta Nishimoto in women's and men's singles respectively.
Harshit Aggarwal defeated Mongolia's Batdavaa Munkhbat 21-15, 21-13 to be pitted against Japan's third seed Kodai Naraoka in the third round.
Star Indian shuttlers P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth advanced to the Round of 16 after pulling off contrasting wins in the opening round of the US$ 700,000 Malaysia Open World Tour Super 750 tournament.
This is Saina's first win over the South Korean, who got the better of the Indian in the quarter-finals of the French Open last year.
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu celebrated her 23rd birthday with a straight-game win over Japan's Aya Ohori to enter the quarter-finals of the $1,250,000 Indonesia Open BWF World Tour Super 1000 tournament.
Second seed PV Sindhu sailed into the women's singles quarter-finals with a comfortable win over Japan's Aya Ohori in the Hong Kong Open Superseries, in Hong Kong on Thursday.
The third seeded Indian will face the winner of the other semi-final, between Japan's Aya Ohori and China's Wang Zhi Yi, on Sunday.
Sindhu now leads 3-0 against the Chinese on head-to-head.
London Games bronze medallist Saina, who had retired midway through her first match at Uber Cup Final due to a groin injury, couldn't match Japan's world no 20 Aya Ohori and lost 21-16, 21-14 in the opening round.
H S Prannoy stunned World No 10 Kanta Tsuneyama while ace Indian women shuttlers PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal also sailed into the second round of the Malaysia Masters, in Kuala Lumpur, on Wednesday. World Championships bronze-medallist B Sai Praneeth and the seasoned Kidambi Srikanth, though, bowed out of the men's singles events.
London Olympics bronze medallist Saina staved off a spirited challenge from World No 44 Mette Poulsen of Denmark 21-19, 23-21 in a 46-minute match.
Srikanth held a 4-1 record over Prannoy coming into this match, but the shuttler was unable to deliver. Srikanth won the first game 21-13, but Prannoy won the second set comprehensively.
The Rio Games silver winner easily notched up a 21-14, 21-15 win over unseeded Japanese Aya Ohori in the second round match that lasted just 40 minutes.
Indian women shuttlers advanced to the Badminton Asia Team Championship quarter-finals despite a 1-4 loss to Japan in which P V Sindhu notched the country's only win Alor Setar, Malaysia, on Thursday.
In the women's singles match, Sindhu brought some smiles back in the Indian camp after seeing off Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong 21-15, 19-21, 21-13, setting up a clash with Japan's Aya Ohori on the eve of her 23rd birthday on Thursday.
Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap knocked out top seed Lee Hyun Il of Korea in the men's singles opening round of the US Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Anaheim, United States.
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