New Delhi: India had a disappointing opening day at the Badminton Asia Championships with both PC Thulasi and Gayatri Vartak tumbling out of the women's singles qualifiers at the Siri Fort Sports Complex on Monday.
Thulasi and Vartak won their first round qualification matches but fumbled in the second round.
Vartak went down to Xin Liu of China 12-21, 11-21 while Thulasi lost to Ma Pai Hsiao of Chinese Taipei 8-21, 9-21.
In the first round, Thulasi beat Pakistan's Sara Khan 21-17, 21-12 while Vartak got the better of Chandrika De Silva 21-9, 21-16. Thulasi blamed unforced errors for her loss.
"She was quick in the court and I was not able to retrieve her shots. A lot of my shots went outside the court. The mistakes proved costly for me," she said of her Chinese rival.
Vartak said she was slow with her movements on the court.
"There were long rallies and my smashes were going midcourt. She was playing intelligently. I was getting tired and my movements were slow," said Vartak.
"I was not well since returning from the Uber Cup and I did not get enough time to train. Hopefully, I will recover my touch soon," she said.
The opening day had its share of minor glitches. The electronic scoreboards were not working and one of the overseas team complained about not having a liason officer despite repeated requests to the authorities.
"We are telling the authorities since morning to arrange a liason officer but nothing has happened so far," one of the Maldives player told IANS. "Apart from this, the facilities here are good."
Chea Bunheng, manager and coach of the Cambodian team, found the thick security cover stifling.
"It becomes difficult for the players to concentrate under such circumstances. But the stadium is world class and we are satisfied with the arrangements," Chea said.
Badminton Asia Championships is the test event for October 3-14 Commonwealth Games.
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