Mulheim an der Ruhr (Germany), February 25 Indian shuttlers faced difficulties in their opening round matches of the German Open Super 300 badminton tournament, held here on Wednesday.
Kiran George lost to top seed Christo Popov of France 10-21, 20-22 in a 32-player men's singles match that lasted 47 minutes.
Tharun Mannepalli also lost to Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei in a 44-minute men's singles first round match.
In the women's singles, Malvika Bansod fought hard but lost to Beiwen Zhang of the USA 21-19, 9-21, 19-21 in a 32-player match that lasted 56 minutes.
Tasnim Mir lost to top seed Wang Zhi Yi of China 9-21, 14-21 in a 28-minute women's singles first round match.
Veteran shuttler Kidambi Srikanth and World Junior Championships silver medallist Tanvi Sharma are among the top Indian players participating in the Super 300 tournament.
