Tauranga (New Zealand), Dec 7 (PTI) Asian Games gold medallist Abhay Singh and reigning national champion Velavan Senthilkumar bowed out of the New Zealand Open squash tournament in their second round matches here on Thursday.
Senthil Kumar went down to World No. 3 Kiwi Paul Coll 7-11, 1-11, 2-11, while Abhay lost to world No. 14 Baptiste Masotti of France 8-11, 5-11, 1-11.
The Indian, a world No. 63, had earlier beaten world No. 46 Shahjahan Khan 3-2 in the opening round.
Senthil gave a fight to Coll in the fist game but faded quickly in the remaining two games, a pattern world No. 70 Abhay followed against the Frenchman.
In his first round match, Abhay, who finished as runner-up to Senthilkumar at the Nationals last month, had scored a 3-2 victory over world No. 54 Andrew Douglas.
Meanwhile, world No. 75 Akanksha Salunkhe lost to Malaysian world No. 51 Aira Azman 3-0 in the opening round of the New Zealand Open for women.
Source: PTI News
