Chetan, Pawar out of Danish Open Super Series

New Delhi : Anand Pawar lost to sixth seed Marc Zwiebler of Germany after a tough fight in the second round as Indians disappointed in the men`s singles event of the Denmark Open Super Series at Odense on Thursday .

Pawar, who beat local lad Hans-Kristian Vittinghus in a thrilling first round match, came back from a game down but ran out of steam against his higher-ranked opponent to lose 10-21 21-14 15-21 in a 59-minute contest. World number 52 Pawar could not match his opponent, ranked 37 places above him, in the first game which the German took in quick time. The Indian, however, fought back strongly with some fine smash winners and points from long rallies to take the second game and the match to the decider. In the decider, Pawar gave a tough fight to his more fancied rival and was still in the match till 10-12 before the German raced to a six-point lead at 16-10 and closed out the game. With Pawar making the exit, Parupalli Kashyap remained the only Indian in the fray after his 21-11 22-20 victory over Scott Evans of Ireland in the first round. Highest ranked Indian shuttler Chetan Anand had earlier crashed out of the tournament after losing to eighth seed Hu Yun of Hong Kong 21-15, 15-21, 16-21 in the opening round.World number 20 Chetan came up with some fine smash winners and was ahead from the beginning till the end of the first game. But, he failed to maintain the good work and his world number 17 opponent from Hong Kong came back strongly with better net play and rallies. Hu Yun took an early 7-2 lead in the second game and Chetan was always doing the catch up job though he closed the gap to 15-16 before his opponent won five straight points. In the decider, it was neck and neck initially but once the Hong Kong shuttler took a 16-11 lead, the writing was clear on the wall for the Indian who won five straight points from 11-20 down before losing the match. Qualifier Ajay Jayaram retired hurt after playing just one point in his first round match against Du Pengyu of China. No Indian is taking part in the women`s singles nor in men`s, women`s and mixed doubles. PTI