Chen/Jia crash out from China Open badminton tournament

Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan, the women's doubles champion of Yonex French Open weeks ago, lost to Japanese duo Shiho Tanaka/Koharu Yonemoto in the first round of BWF China Open here on Wednesday.

Chen/Jia pair, who was expected to go further, meets strong challengers from Japan on the first match day and fail to secure a berth in the tournament. They lost the first set 21-19 and fought back in the second set 21-9. In the final set, Japanese opponents downed the Chinese young shuttlers 21-17.

"I had too many turnovers in the final set and did not grab the chances. We're not patient enough and lost points too quickly," said Chen.

Jia told Xinhua that they kept playing three BWF events recently and did not train well after the game. "We lost too much energy these days. Maybe we are not in good form today," Jia said. "We did not play well in the crucial moments in the third set."

With Zheng Siwei, Chen also took part in the mixed doubles game on Tuesday. By defeating Chinese Taipei pair Lu Ching Yao/Chiang Kai Hsin, Zheng/Chen advanced to the second round on Thursday.

The third-seeded men's doubles pair Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen from China failed to step to the next round either, lost to Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi, Japan, 21-17, 21-15. Indonesian player Tommy Sugiarto retired from the match vs Rio Olympic champion Chen Long when the scores were at 17-5. Enditem