Malaysian and Indonesian seeded pairs were show the exits in the opening round of the Kumamoto Masters badminton championships.
Women’s doubles second seeds Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan were among the early casualties as they were beaten 21-18, 13-21, 14-21 by Japan’s Ririna Hirmoto-Chiharu Shida.
Despite starting off strongly in the first game, the Malaysians were unable to keep up their momentum in the next two, in their first ever clash on the Tour.
Pearly and Thinaah had won the Denmark Open last month and were runners-up at the French Open the following week.
Also out of the tournament were the Indonesian men’s doubles second seeds Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Shohibul Fikri. They were also beaten by a Japanese pair in the for of Hiroki Okamura-Kyohei Yamashita. The East Asian pair defeated the Indonesians 21-14, 11-21, 24-23.
Also bowing out were third seeds Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik. A recurrence of an injury saw the Malaysian pair retiring while trailing 6-11 against the Indian pairing of Hariharan Amsakarunan-M.R. Arjun.
China’s Hu Keyean-Liang Weikeng sprung the other upset as they defeated seventh seeded Sabar Karyaman Gutama-Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahani of Indonesia 23-21, 21-16.
FIRST ROUND RESULTS
Men’s doubles: Hiroki Okamura-Kyohei Yamashita (Jpn) bt Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Shohibul Fikri (Ina) 21-14, 11-21, 24-23; Hariharan Amsakarunan-M.R. Arjun (Ind) bt Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik (Mas) 11-6 retired; Daniel Lundgaard-Mads Vestergaard (Den) bt Azriyn Nur Muhd Azriyn Ayub (Mas) 21-16, 16-21, 22-20; Jin Yong-Jo Song-hyun (Kor) bt Kang Min-hyuk-Lee Jongmin (Kor) 22-20, 21-11; Wang Chang-Xie Haonan (Chn) bt Chen Boyang-Liu Yi (Chn) 21-16, 21-12; Hu Keyean-Liang Weikeng (Chn) bt Sabar Karyaman Gutama-Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahani (Ina) 23-21, 21-16; Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin (Mas) bt Christian Faust Kjaer-Rasmus Kjaer (Den) 21-15, 21-16; Ben Lane-Sean Vendy (Eng) bt Lee Fang-Chih-Lee Fang-Jen (Tpe) 21-18, 21-18; AaronTai-Yap Roy King (Mas) bt Kakeru Kumagai-Hiroki Nishi (Jpn) 21-8, 21-14; Chiu Hsiang Chieh-Wang Chi-lin (Tpe) bt Chen Zhi Ray-Lin Yu Chieh (Tpe) 14-21, 21-11, 21-15
Women’s doubles: Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi (Jpn) bt Francesca Corbett-Jennie Gai (USA) 21-18, 21-16; Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto (Jpn) bt Li Yijing-Wang Yiduo (Chn) 14-21, 21-9, 23-21; Sayaka Hirota-Ayako Sakuramoto (Jpn) bt Polina Buhrova-Yevheniia Kantemyr (Ukr) 21-16, 21-18; Ririna Hiramoto-Chiharu Shida (Jpn) bt Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan (Mas) 18-21, 21-13, 21-14; Kim Hye-jeong-Lee Yeon-woo (Kor) bt Jackies Dent-Crystal Lai (Can) 21-10, 21-8; Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma-Meilysa Trias Puspitasari (Ina) bt Chang Ching Hui-Yang Ching Tun (Tpe) 21-17, 21-15; Lin Chih-Chun-Yang Chu Yun (Tpe) bt Liu Lok Lok-Tsang Hiu Yan (Hkg) 21-12, 21-17; Luo Yi-Wang Tingge (Chn) bt Hsu Ya Ching-Sung Yu-Hsuan (Tpe) 21-14, 21-15; Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand Pullela (Ind) bt Hinata Suzuki-Nao Yamakita (Jpn) 21-17, 21-14; Lee Jhe-Huei-Yamg Po-Hsuan (Tpe) bt Takumi Nomura-Yuicho Shimogami (Jpn) 21-17, 21-15; Hsu Yin-Hui-Lin Jhih Yun (Tpe) bt Bao Lijing-Cao Zihan (Chn) 21-13, 21-13
