Indonesia Open: Karunakaran-Variyath pair keeps India's hope alive in mixed doubles

Jakarta: Sathish Kumar Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath entered the mixed doubles second round of the Indonesia Open Super 1000 badminton tournament but all other Indian pairs in the draw exited after opening losses here on Wednesday.

Karunakaran and Variyath rallied to beat Chinese Taipei's Ye Hong Wei and Nicole Gonzales Chan 15-21 21-16 21-17 in a tough opening round contest that lasted 45 minutes.

But there was heartbreak for other Indian pairs in the event as they failed to progress to the next round.

Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde were shown the door by the Japanese combination of Yuichi Shimogami and Sayaka Hobara 14-21 9-21.

Ashith Surya and Amrutha Pramuthesh lost 15-21 9-21 to Denmark's Mads Vestergaard and Christine Busch.

Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto also had to endure the same fate as they lost 11-21 21-16 14-21 against second seeds Tang Jie Chen and Ee Wei Toh of Malaysia.