Yeosu [South Korea], November 4 (ANI): India's HS Prannoy suffered a first-round exit from the Korea Open 2026 after losing to South Korea's Yoo Tae-bin in the men's singles round of 32 at Jinnam Stadium in Yeosu on Wednesday.

Prannoy, a World Championships bronze medallist, went down 21-23, 15-21 in a 47-minute contest against the home favourite and Asian Games bronze medallist at the BWF Super 500 tournament, according to Olympics.com.

Ranked 38th in the world, Prannoy was India's sole representative in the men's singles main draw after recently crowned Hylo Open champion Lakshya Sen withdrew from the tournament.

The defeat marked Prannoy's third consecutive first-round exit on the BWF World Tour this year, following similar results at the Hylo Open and Arctic Open. The former world No. 6 has struggled for consistency this season, progressing beyond the second round only once in 15 BWF tournaments.

His best performance came at the Vietnam Open in September, where he reached the semi-finals of the BWF Super 100 tournament.

In Wednesday's match, Prannoy recovered from a 12-7 deficit in the opening game to take a 19-16 lead. However, Yoo fought back to level the score at 19-19 before edging the game 23-21.

The South Korean carried the momentum into the second game, opening up an 8-3 advantage before sealing the match 21-15.

Meanwhile, India's Anmol Kharb advanced to the women's singles second round after defeating Canada's Rachel Chan 21-19, 21-18 in 38 minutes.

Anmol, who reached the semi-finals of the Hylo Open last week, will face Japan's second seed Akane Yamaguchi in the round of 16 on Thursday.

Tanvi Sharma also progressed to the second round after beating Japan's Manami Suizu 21-16, 12-21, 21-17 in a contest lasting one hour and 12 minutes. Tanvi had won her maiden BWF World Tour title at the Taipei Open earlier this year.

She will take on the winner of the first-round match between Japan's fifth seed Hina Akechi and China's Xu Wenjing in the round of 16 on Thursday.

In mixed doubles, India's Dhruv Rawat and Maneesha K went down 22-20, 12-21, 22-24 against China's seventh-seeded pair of Zhu Yi Jun and Li Qian in a closely fought 58-minute encounter.

India's women's doubles pair of Ritika Thaker and Sonali Singh withdrew ahead of their first-round match against Australia's Laudya Chelsea Griselda and Nozomi Shimizu on Tuesday.

The men's doubles combination of Arjun Reddy Pochana and Achutaditya Rao Doddavarapu also failed to progress beyond the qualification round. The Korea Open 2026 will conclude on Sunday. (ANI)