Parupalli Kashyap enters Round 2; Ajay, Sindhu, Jwala Gutta-Ashwini Ponnappa lose

TOKYO: Ace Indian shuttler Parupalli Kashyap advanced to the second round but Ajay Jayaram, P V Sindhu and women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa failed to cross the opening hurdle of the super series badminton tournament here today.

Commonwealth Games champion Kashyap, who turned 29 yesterday, was handed a win by Takuma Ueda after the Japanese shuttler retired midway at 3-2 in the opening game at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.

Two-time silver medallist at World Championship, Sindhu failed to break the defence of Minatsu Mitani as her fight ended with a 13-21 21-17 11-21 loss to the Japanese shuttler in women's singles competition.

Dutch Open winner Ajay also faltered at the first round, going down 10-21 10-21 to Denmark seventh seed Viktor Axelsen in another men's singles match.

Glasgow Commonwealth Games silver medallists, Jwala and Ashwini played out of their skin before going down 20-22 21-18 13-21 to eighth seeds Zhao Yunlei and Zhong Qianxin of China in a 54-minute match.

Another women's doubles pair of Pradnya Gadre and N Sikki Reddy also made an early exit as they lost 6-21 17-21 to top seeds Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi of Japan.