Four Indians -- RMV Gurusaidutt, Anand pawar, Arundhati Pantawane and PC Thulasi -- suffered defeats in the qualifying stage at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium to crash out of the tournament.
Gurusaidutt became a first round casualty, losing 21-15, 14-21, 16-21 to Keigo Sonoda in the men’s singles competition.
In contrast, Pawar notched up a 21-16, 21-17 victory over Kento Momota of Japan in the first round but failed to get past Tien Chen Chow of Chinese Teipei in the next round.
He lost 18-21, 21-19, 21-23 to the Chinese Taipei shuttler in an hour and six-minute.
In women’s singles, Arundhati suffered a 12-21, 15-21 defeat against Ying Suet Tse of Hong Kong in the second round.
Pantawane had won the first round, beating compatriot PC Thulasi 15-21, 22-20, 22-20 in a hard-fought battle that lasted 53 minutes.
The main draw of the event starts on Wednesday with ace India shuttler Saina Nehwal taking on Inthanon Ratchanok of Thailand in her tournament opener.
Commonwealth Games bronze medallist P Kashyap will be up against Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in his first match in the men’s singles competition.
Ajay Jayaram, who reached the quarterfinals of the World Championship early last month, will have a difficult customer in seventh-seeded Tien Minh Nguyen of Vietnam as his first round opponent.