Indian shuttlers bite the dust in Russia Open

VLADIVOSTOK: It turned out to be a dismal day for India at the Russian Open as all shuttlers, including Ajay Jayaram, failed to cross the semifinal hurdle and bowed out of the Grand Prix badminton event here.

Third seed Jayaram lost in straight games to top seed Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia, while the men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy and the mixed doubles combo of Akshay Dewalkar and Prajakta Sawant also went down in their respective matches.

Jayaram suffered a 17-21 17-21 loss to Sugiarto in a 33-minute clash, while the third-seeded pair of Manu and Sumeeth saw their gallant fight go in vain as they lost 21-19 7-21 16-21 to top seeds Vladimir Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov of Russia in a 43-minute match.

Akshay and Prajakta too suffered a 10-21 8-21 loss to Japan's Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino.