HCL-SRFI tour: Velavan Senthilkumar loses in straight games

Abhay Singh beat Japan's Naoki Hayashi in the first round of the Chennai leg of the HCL-SRFI India tour, while Velavan Senthilkumar lost in straight games.

India's Velavan Senthilkumar playing against Japan's Ryosei Kobayashi in the HCL-SRFI India tour.

Abhay Singh beat Japan's Naoki Hayashi 3-0 in the men's category in the first round of the Chennai leg of the HCL-SRFI India tour, a PSA Challenger tour, at the ISA courts here on Sunday.

Velavan Senthilkumar, who's suffering muscle strain under his feet, lost in straight games (3-0) to Ryosei Kobayashi of Japan.

Velavan said: "This is the first time I've played Ryosei. I've seen him play a couple of times. He was really good today. He was on point and I couldn't do much with him. Personally, I couldn't perform to my best because of my injury and consequently my lack of sufficient training. But hopefully I'll get back.

"The situation was such that I could barely walk. Then, I started walking last week and trained for the past two days," he added.

Yash Fadte, who lost 3-1 to Kuwait's Ammar Altamimi, said he was "accurate and tight" and that his "strategy worked out in the first game", but "lost focus and was shaky" in the games that followed.