The second day of the International Challenge badminton tournament was no different than the first as Nepali shuttlers failed to produce satisfactory results. Having won their men’s singles matches on the inaugural day, Dipesh Dhami and Bishnu Katwal suffered defeats on Thursday.

Katwal went down in straight sets of 23-21, 21-17 to Yu Jin Son of South Korea. Nepal number two Dhami failed to live up to the expectations losing to sixth seed Cao Cuong Pham. Dhami lost the first set 21-13 but came back strong in the second to 17-21. However, he could not give continuity to his second set performance and lost the third set 21-4.

Nabin Shrestha who had progressed to the second round after receiving a walkover lost a very competitive match to Saharsh Mohan of India. Shrestha had the Nepali spectators upbeat as he won the first set 29-27. However, Shrestha ended up with a sour defeat as he lost the other two sets 21-18, 21-18.

In women’s singles, top seed Porntip Buranaprasertsuk of Thailand took no time to win 21-3, 21-4 against Sita Rai. Nita Lamsal met with a similar fate as she lost 21-4, 21-11 to India’s third seed Mugdha Agrey.

Shuttlers did not fare well in men’s doubles as well. The pair of Jivan Acharya and Sunil Joshi were comfortably beaten in straight sets 21-10, 21-11 by Shotaro Inamitsu and Riki Takei of Japan. Much was expected from Dhami and Ratnajit Tamang but they ended up in the losing side with 21-12, 21-11 defeat against Ruttanapak Oupthong and Nanthakarn Yordphaisong of Thailand. Bijeet Thapa Magar and Katwal lost 21-12, 21-11 to Na Sung Seung and Wang Chan of South Korea while Bikash Shrestha and Nabin suffered 21-12, 21-14 defeat against Simon Wing Hang Leung and Mitchell Wheller of Australia.

Tamang and Anu Maya Rai also suffered a 21-16, 21-8 loss in their mixed doubles match against Wang Chan and Seong Min Kim of South Korea. Bikash and Sita also failed to produce a win against India’s Sumeeth Reddy and Kuhoo Garg, the Nepali pair ended up losing 21-14, 21-12. Magar and Pooja Shrestha lost 21-16, 21-8 against Leung and Gronya Somerville of Australia. All defeats meant Nepali shuttlers’ journey at the Challenge has now come to an end.