Taipei Open 2025: Eight Indian shuttlers bow out in qualifying round

Four Indian men and as many women shuttlers participated in the opening day's qualifiers at the BWF Super 300 tournament. Only three of them were able to get past the first round; however, they suffered heartbreak in the second round, according to Olympics.com.

Raghu Mariswamy, ranked 119th in the badminton rankings in the men's singles category, outwitted Macau's Pui Pang Fong 14-21, 21-16, 21-14. However, he bowled out after suffering defeat in straight games by Indonesia's world No. 67 Moh Zaki Ubaidillah 21-16, 21-17.

Manraj Singh, ranked 79th, also emerged triumphant in the first round, by overwhelming Chinese Taipei's Cheng Kai 19-21, 21-13, 21-11. However, he fought hard and put up a valiant show, but lost the second-round battle 21-9, 19-21, 20-22 to Malaysia's Tan Jia Jie in a closely contested affair.

In the women's category, Mansi Singh was the only Indian to notch a win. She defeated Tsai Hsin-Pei 22-20, 14-21, 21-17. Her run in the tournament was cut short after she lost to Thailand's Pitchamon Opatniputh 21-17, 21-10.

Among other players, Aryamann Tandon suffered a defeat against Malaysia's Kok Jing Hong 27-25, 10-21, 8-21, while Mithun Manjunath also lost against Tan Jia Jie in a tight encounter in the second game, 21-17, 19-21, 9-21.

In women's singles, Isharani Baruah pushed Pitchamon to the edge but crashed out with a 7-21, 23-21, 22-24 defeat. Ira Sharma lost 7-21, 18-21 to Chen Su Yu of Chinese Taipei, while Shreya Lele lost 14-21, 16-21 against Japan's Sorano Yoshikawa.

India squad:

Men's singles: Kidambi Srikanth, S Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian, Ayush Shetty, Tharun Mannepalli, Meiraba Luwang Maisnam;

Qualifiers: Aryamann Tandon, Manraj Singh, Raghu Mariswamy, Mithun Manjunath

Women's singles: Anupama Upadhyaya, Unnati Hooda, Anmol Kharb, Rakshitha Sree Santhosh Ramraj, Aakarshi Kashyap;

Qualifiers - Isharani Baruah, Mansi Singh, Shreya Lele, Ira Sharma

Women's Doubles: Rashmi Ganesh/Sania Sikkandar. (ANI)