The second-seeded Bhat, coming into the event after taking part in three international tournaments in South East Asia, was beaten 19-21 16-21 by unheralded Andhra Pradesh shuttler K Tanishaq in 40 minutes.

Top seed Chetan Anand set up a quarterfinal clash with Ajay Jayaram, as other seeds crossed their pre-quarter hurdles. “I felt dull on the court and he played well. I thought he would crack when scores were close, but he held hism nerves,” Bhat said after his shock first round exit. Bhat conceded he made too many unforced errors and could not exert control over the shuttle as much as he wanted. “I spoke to Prakash Padukone and am taking a break now and start training in a week’s time for the World Championship (in August in Hyderabad), said the shuttler who trains at the Padukone Academy in Bangalore.

Top seed Chetan Anand, also of Petroleum, sailed into the quarterfinals along with third seeded teammate P Kashyap and sixth seed Ajay Jayaram, the Mumbai-based shuttler. Anand ousted Pavan Malik of Chhattisgarh and P Vinay Kumar Reddy of AP in the first two rounds in straight games while Kashyap brushed aside the challenge from Utsav Mishra of AI and Saurabh Verma of MP in his first two ties in the Rs 5-lakh tournament.

There was another upset when eighth seed J B S Vidyadhar of Petroleum was shown the exit door after a 45-minute, three-game battle by his pre-quarterfinal opponent S D S Krishna of Karnataka.

In the match between Bhat and Tanishaq, who came through four rounds of qualifiers into the 32-man main draw, scores ran neck to neck till 9-all in the first game before the former surged ahead 15-13.

But his opponent rattled off seven points while allowing Bhat to grab only two to be at game point at 20-17. The second seed then hit the shuttle out to lose the game. Tanishaq dominated the second game from the beginning to surge to a commanding 13-6 lead before Bhat recovered poise and narrowed down the gap to one point (15-16). But Bhat continued his error-prone ways and managed to win just one more point in the match.