Chiu Pin-chian
The top four women’s singles seeds at the Orleans Open badminton championships are out of the competition.
Top seeded Chiu Pin-chian crashed out after suffering a 13-21, 17-21 defeat at the hands of Pitchamon Opatniputh of Thailand in the opening round.
Second seeded Supanida Katethong was forced to retire injured in her first round match, trailing 18-21, 12-14 to Indian youngster Tanvi Sharma.
Pin-chian’s teammate and third seed Lin Hsiang Ti was also given a rude awakening as she was beaten 19-21, 22-20, 20-22 by Vietnam’s Nguyen Thuy Linh.
Also bowing out in the first round was top Danish shuttler, Line Christophersen, The fourth seed was handed a 13-21, 16-21 defeat by Canadian Wen Yu Zhang.
Malaysian upstart Wong Ling Ching provided another upset as she picked up a hard-earned 21-19, 13-21, 23-21win over eight seeded Zhang Beiwen of the USA.
The highest ranked player remaining in the draw, fifth seeded Japanese Nozomi Okuhara was also given a fright by her opponent, coming back froma game down to beat teammate Hina Akechi 19-21, 21-13, 21-17.
Men’s singles top seed Chou Tien-chen, however, in fine form as he packed off Kantaphon Wangcharoen of Thailand 21-13, 21-17 in his first round tie.
However, it was not the same with fellow Taiwanese Chi Yu-jen, the fifth seed. Malaysian Justin Hoh edged him out 21-9, 14-21, 24-22.
Seventh seeded Rasmus Gemke also suffered a shock exit, losing 17-21, 13-21 to Taiwan’s Wang Po-Wei.
In the men’s doubles, eight seeds Muhammad Rian Ardianto-Rahmat Hidayat were beaten 19-21, 21-16, 16-21 by the German duo of Bjarne Geiss-Jones Ralfy Jansen.
Mixed doubles’ fourth seeds Jesper Toft-Amalie Magelund failed to take court and conceded a walkover to Algerians Koceila Mammeri-Tanina Violette Mammeri.
Also out of the mixed doubles competition are the Indonesian pairing of Adnan Maulana-Indah Chaya Sari Jamil. The eight seeded pair lost 24-26, 21-14, 21-23 to Japan’s Yuta Watanabe-Maya Taguchi.
Likewise, sixth seeds Ruttanapak Oupthong-Jhenicha Sudjaipraparat of Thailand were bundled out 17-21, 23-25 by the Spanish pairing of Ruben Garcia-Lucia Rodriguez.
