Shuttlers Manu-Sumeeth lose campaign opener at Rio

Rio de Janeiro, Aug 11 (IANS) World No.21 Indian pair of Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy lost their opening Group D match against the second seeded pair of Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia in straight games 18-21, 13-21 here on Thursday.

The former World No.1 Indonesian pairing dominated the proceedings from the opening game, but the Indian pair fought back from being 9-13 down to 14-13 before the Indonesians used their experience to finish the game 21-18 in 18 minutes.

In the second game, the Indonesians were again at their attacking best leading from five points at the half-game interval. In the latter half of the game, Ahsan and Setiawan made life difficult for the Indian duo as they went on to clinch it 21-13 in barely 14 minutes.

Manu and Sumeeth will be playing their next match on Friday against the Chinese pairing of Chai Biao and Hong Wei, against which the Indians have a 1-0 win record, when they met at the All England Open last year.