Top shuttler B Sai Praneeth and doubles player Dhruv Rawat have already pulled out after testing positive in the pre-departure testing.
20-year-old Malvika Bansod, ranked 111th, took 34 minutes to register a straight games victory against former World No 1 Saina Nehwal.
No Indians featured in the women's doubles and mixed doubles rankings.
Placed at number 10 in the Race to Guanzhou rankings, Srikanth needed to win the tournament to have any hopes of qualifying for the season-ending World Tour Final in December.
The Indian will have yet another uphill task at hand when he takes on Axelsen, the baby-faced badminton giant, who has terrorised his opponents in the last few years.
Lakshya Sen and Kiran George advanced to the second round but HS Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth made early exits after suffering narrow losses in their respective opening matches at the Indonesia Masters Super 500 badminton tournament in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Kiran George lost to World champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in the quarter-finals of the Indonesia Masters.
India's double Olympics medallist P V Sindhu continued her impressive run at the French Open badminton tournament, sailing into the women's singles semi-finals with a straight-game win over Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan, in Paris, on Friday. Sindhu, seeded third, scripted a convincing 21-14, 21-14 win over eighth seeded in 38 minutes to extend her head-to-head record against the Thai to 14-1.
The star Indian pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy will be the key attraction in the men's doubles category. However, they are set to face a stiff competition as the line-up includes the three-time world champion and world No. 2 Indonesian duo of Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan alongside another Indonesian pair of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto, who are currently ranked eighth in the world.
Sen, who had emulated his mentor Prakash Padukone by winning the World championship bronze in Huelva, Spain last month, will now look to claim the All England Championships in March.
Srikanth fought better in the second, but Yew was too good on the day, to emerge triumphant.
Lakshya Sen mounted a remarkable comeback to become the first male Indian shuttler to qualify for the singles semi-finals at the Olympic Games.
Besides Srikanth, the other players withdrawn are Ashwini Ponnappa, Ritika Rahul Thkar, Treesa Jolly, Mithun Manjunath, Simran Aman Singh and Khushi Gupta.
India began their campaign Badminton Asia Team Championships in style with both men's and women's teams posting victories against their Singapore rivals to make it to the quarterfinals. Indian men made a clean sweep of their five-match tie against Singapore, who had lost to China two days ago. India, China and Singapore are part of Group A. Despite the absence of star player Saina Nehwal, the Indian women registered a comprehensive 5-0 win against Singapore and also entered the quarter finals as the Singapore team lost to Japan earlier. Each tie comprises three singles and two doubles matches. India's rising shuttler Srikanth scored a comfortable 21-16, 12-21, 21-13 win over his Singapore rival Zi Liang Derek Wong in the first Singles match. The Singaporean tried to make matters difficult for Srikanth, but the world number nine bounced back to have the last laugh.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
India's HS Prannoy showed nerves of steel, advancing to his third successive quarterfinals at the World Championships.
Star Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth will look to arrest their slump in form when they begin their campaign at the Australia Open badminton tournament in Sydney on Tuesday.
Indian Mithun Manjunath stunned fourth seed and world number seven Kean Yew Loh of Singapore in the opening round while PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth secured straight-game wins.
The win ensured Srikanth's dominance over his younger countrymate as he took his head-to-head record to 3-0 over Lakshya.
'Lot of things to learn from this, so definitely I will work on this and try and get better for next tournaments.'
World championship bronze medallist Lakshya Sen entered his maiden World Tour Super 500 summit clash on Saturday with a come-from-behind win over Malaysia's Ng Tze Yong at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open in New Delhi.
None of the other three quarters boast of such a strong star cast but there would be a few mouth-watering opening round clashes to look forward to.
Top seeds P V Sindhu and K Srikanth notched up contrasting victories to advance to the third round of the $120,000 Indonesia Masters Grand Prix Gold tournament, in Malang, on Thursday.
Check out how India's athletes fared on Day 7, Friday, August 2, 2024:
Defending champion PV Sindhu suffered a straight-game defeat to Tai Tzu Ying while Srikanth assured himself of a medal.
P V Sindhu and Lakshya Sen sailed into the second round but it was curtains for Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth on a mixed day for India at the French Open Super 750 badminton tournament in Paris on Wednesday.
Srikanth made an attacking start after the change of ends, putting his smashes to good use, to lead 5-1. Two tight smashes on either side helped the Indian to maintain his lead to 8-3 before he entered the break with a healthy seven-point advantage when Axelsen went to the net.
Young Indian shuttler Ashmita Chaliha recorded the first upset of the India Open when she stunned fifth seed Evgeniya Kosetskaya while top seed P V Sindhu sailed into the women's singles second round of the tournament, in Delhi, on Tuesday.
His backhand blocks and forehand low returns reaped dividends but an alert Gemke managed to grab a four-point cushion at the interval.
World Championships bronze medallist Lakshya Sen and men's doubles combination of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy registered contrasting victories to reach their first Yonex-Sunrise India Open 2022 final, while PV Sindhu was knocked out, in New Delhi on Saturday.
Sen, a product of the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, has been in the form of his life for about a year now.
India's shuttlers suffered a mild hiccup before making it to the Mixed Team badminton final at the Commonwealth Games on Sunday. After an easy passage to the semi-finals, they were checked in their stride by Singapore before winning the first semi-final 3-1.
Already through to the quarter-finals, defending champions India continued their rampaging run as they beat Australia 4-1 in their final group A match of mixed team competition at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Here's a look at Indian athletes' performance on Monday, Day 4 of the Games.
Star shuttlers, including P V Sindhu, will chase individual gold medals but doubles would also under the spotlight as India would aim to retain the mixed team title and continue their consistent run at the Commonwealth Games.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
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