Bayern ordered to improve SATWIKSAIRAJ NOTCHES UP TWIN WINS China Open: PV Sindhu following Niko Kovac’s exit makes another early exit

FUZHOU (China): World Champion P V Sindhu suffered a shock defeat to lower-ranked Pai Yu Po of Chinese Taipei in the opening round to be ousted but India’s doubles campaign was off to a good start in the USD 700,000 China Open here on Tuesday.

World No.6 Sindhu, who made early exits in China, Korea and Denmark, lost 13-21 21-18 19-21 to world No.42 Pai in a 74-minute women’s singles match here.

However, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy gave the Indian camp reason to be cheerful with twin victories in the men’s and mixed doubles categories.

Thailand Open champions Satwik and Chirag Shetty, who had reached the French Open finals last month, defeated the American pair of Phillip Chew and Ryan Chew 21-9 21-15 to set up a second-round meeting with sixth seeds Japanese Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe. Earlier, Satwik and Ashwini Ponnappa, ranked 30th, defeated Canada’s Joshua Hurlburt-yu and Josephine Wu 21-19 21-19 to make a positive start in the mixed doubles competition.

They will face fifth-seeded Korean pair of Seo Seung Jae and Chae Yujung next.

In men’s singles, HS Prannoy, who has recently recovered from dengue, faltered in the opening round, losing 17-21 18-21 to Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke.

The women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy was blown away 9-21 8-21 by world No.10 Chinese pair of Li Wen Mei and Zheng Yu in 30 minutes.

In the women’s singles match, Sindhu, who had reached the quarterfinals at French Open in her last outing, came into the match with a 3-0 head-to-head record against Pai but it was the 28-year-old Taiwanese, who took the initiative early, opening up a 3-0 lead in the opening game.

Though Sindhu made it 4-4, Pai was 8-4 ahead before making it 11-5 at the break. The Taiwanese didn’t take her foot off the pedal and moved to 12-8 before reeling off eighth straight points to zoom to 20-8.

Sindhu saved five game points before Pai earned the bragging rights after sealing the opening game.

In the second game, Sindhu dished out a better performance, opening up a 7-4 lead and then maintaining it at the interval. The Indian kept moving ahead and roared back into the contest, despite a stiff challenge from Pai.

Pai got her act together in the decider as she once again dominated the proceedings early on, surging to 8-2 before making it 11-3 at the breather.

The experienced Sindhu then came up with nine points on the trot to catch up with Pai but the Taiwanese managed to held on to a 15-12 lead.

A fighting Sindhu once again gathered six consecutive points to move to 18-15. But four straight points once again gave Pai the lead and she capitalised on it, sealing the issue in the end. MUNICH: Bayern Munich’s stars have been told to knuckle down under interim coach Hansi Flick ahead of their Champions League clash with Olympiakos following Niko Kovac’s sacking.

Former Bayern and West Germany defender Andreas Brehme says the Bayern squad “let Kovac down” with a series of lacklustre recent performances that led to the coach’s dismissal, while the club’s director of sport Hasan Salihamidzic has demanded more effort from his off-form players.

“I now expect a positive development from our players and absolute motivation to achieve our goals for this season,” he said.

Group B leaders Bayern host bottom side Olympiakos at the Allianz Arena with a fourth straight Champions League win in their sights after beating the Greek side 3-2 in Athens a fortnight ago.

Bayern already have one foot in the knock-out phase as they currently sit five-points clear of second-placed Tottenham, who they host in December having routed them 7-2 in north London last month.

However, all is not well behind the scenes at the Bavarian giants, who dismissed Kovac on Sunday after winning just three of their last six games in all competitions.

Saturday’s embarrassing 5-1 drubbing at Eintracht Frankfurt -- the defending champions’ heaviest league defeat for a decade -- did for Kovac, who never enjoyed the full confidence of the club despite winning the league and cup double

last season.

The pressure is now on Bayern to perform under caretaker boss Flick against Olympiakos and prove that the weekend’s battering was just a blip.

Bayern need a confidence boosting-win in Europe before hosting second-placed Borussia Dortmund on Saturday in the Bundesliga with defending champions Munich fourth in the table, trailing current leaders Borussia Moenchengladbach by four points.

Kovac’s former assistant Flick, part of the Germany staff when they won the 2014 World Cup, has been promoted while a new head coach is sought with Ajax’s Erik ten Hag, Jose Mourinho and Massimiliano Allegri among the early contenders. Flick takes charge of Bayern, albeit temporarily, with ringing endorsements from within the Germany set-up.

National head coach Joachim Loew recently said Flick has “enormous qualities”, both for his football knowledge and as a man manager, while team director Oliver Bierhoff described Flick as a “competent expert”.

“He has already taken on the role as head coach in other jobs (at Hoffenheim and lower league club Victoria Bammental), I don’t think he is afraid of it,” added Bierhoff in Berlin on Monday.

However, worryingly for both Flick and Bayern, there are reports that top-scoring striker Lewandowski needs a groin operation, which is likely to take place during next week’s international break and could rule him out for up to 10 days.

The 31-year-old is enjoying the best season of his career to date with 20 goals in 16 games, including record 14 in the first 10 Bundesliga matches this season. Bayern struggled to a 2-1 win over second division side Bochum last week in the German Cup when Lewandowski only came on for the second half.

The women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy was blown away 9-21 8-21 by world No.10 Chinese pair of Li Wen Mei and Zheng Yu in 30 minutes