Tarun Kona, Sikki Reddy lose in Korea Open Super Series

SEOUL: India's mixed doubles pair of Tarun Kona and Sikki Reddy failed to cross the opening hurdle of the Korea Open Super Series as they went down in straight games to top seed Chinese Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei, here today.

Tarun and Sikki suffered a 11-21 10-21 loss to Zhang and Zhao in a match that lasted less than half an hour at the SK Handball Stadium.

The Indian duo were no match for the top seeded Chinese as their challenge lasted for the first five points but after that it was Zhang and Zhao who dominated proceedings in the first game.

The script didn't change in the second game as Zhang and Zhao led from the start and didn't allow Tarun and Sikki to make a comeback before shutting the door on the Indian duo.

Sikki will now pair up with her women's doubles partner Pradnya Gadre to face Shizuka Matsuoand Mami Naito of Japan in the opening round tomorrow.

Top shuttlers, including P V Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, Parupalli Kashyap, will start their campaign tomorrow.