KATHMANDU, Dec 14: Three Nepali shuttlers including Nepal No 1 Ratnajit Tamang entered the next round in the men's singles event of BWF Yonex Sunrise International Series 2016 badminton tournament that kicked off at the covered hall of Dasharath Stadium, Tripureshwar on Tuesday. 

The third seed of the tournament Ratnajit overcame Muhammad Irfan Saeed Bhatti of Pakistan in straight sets of 21-16, 25-23 to book a place in the last 16. Bishnu Katuwal edged past Moajjam Hossain of Bangladesh 21-19, 21-15 in the tournament which features 72 players of nine Asian countries. Meanwhile, Dipesh Dhami enjoyed walkover from Imam Adi Kusuma Atmaja of Indonesia. 

Nine other male players of host Nepal lost their respective singles matches including Irfan Ansari, Suman Limbu, Deepak Bohara, Bijeet Thapa Magar, Josef Adhikari, Sajan Krishna Tamrakar, Bhugol Gurung, Sudeep Sedhai and Sanjeev  Khadka. 

Irfan faced 12-21, 8-21 defeat at the hands of Tushar Krishna Roy of Bangladesh while Suman suffered 2-21, 11-21 defeat at the hands of Le Duc Phat Le of Vietnam. India shuttler Aman Kumar overcame Deepak 23-21, 21-10 and Siddhartha Thakur eased past Bijeet 21-10, 22-20.

Similarly, Amir Jabbari of Iran beat Josef 21-6, 21-10 while Sajan retired hurt at 11-4 while playing against Vietnam's Cao Cuong Pham. Bhugol faced 10-21, 5- 21 defeat at the hands of Md Salman Khan. Sudeep was beaten in three sets of 21-19, 18-21, 9-21 by Du Giang Nguyen of Vietnam. Sanjeev went down 17-21, 15-21 against Indian opponent Abhishek Yelegar.  

The other matches of the same category saw Quang Huy Dang of Vietnam beat Md Anamul Haque of Bangladesh 16-21, 21-14, 21-15 and Arun Kumar Ashok beat Hussein Zayan Shaheed 21-12, 21-14.

Women's singles 
None of the four women shuttlers of host Nepal won their singles matches in the opening day of the tournament. Sunaina Mukhiya faced 24-26, 9-21 defeat at the hands of Alina Sultana of India and Shova Gauchan went down 5-21, 8-21 defeat against Palwasha Bashir. Similarly, Anu Maya Rai went down 6-21, 15-21 against Indonesian opponent Devi Yunita Indha Sari and Jessica Gurung faced 15-21, 18-21 defeat at the hands of Maisa Fathuhulla Ismail. 

Meanwhile, Nepal No 1 Nangsal Devi Tamang, Shikshya Shrestha, Amita Giri and Mega Chand made it to the next round of the women's singles after receiving byes. 

The mixed doubles event saw Nepali pair of Dipesh Dhami and Pooja Shrestha suffer 18-21, 22-20, 8-21 defeat at the hands of Rajesh Krishnan and Tulasi Bailupudi of India.

Similarly another Indian pair of Saurabh Sharma and Anoushka Parikh also registered win in the mixed doubles event beating Paikstani pair of Md Irfan Saeed Bhatti and Saima Manzoor. The winners made it to the quarterfinals.

The mixed doubles event also saw three Nepali players enter next round after enjoying byes including Tamang siblings Nangsal and Ratnajit, Bijeet and Shiksha and Bishnu and Amita entered quarterfinals. 

Yonex Sunrise sponsors tournament
Sports kits producer Yonex Surnrise has signed sponsorship deal with Nepal Badminton Association for the tournament. As per the deal Yonex will provide $ 6000 per annum to Nepal Badminton Association for four years.

The tournament organized by Nepal Badminton Assocaition is sanctioned by Badminton World Federation and Asian Badminton Confederation. The tournament sees participation of 72 players of nine Asian countries including 22 from Nepal.

 
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