The world No 6 pair were defeated by No 14 duo Jafar Hidayatullah-Felisha Alberta Nathaniel Pasaribu 21-18, 22-24, 15-21 in a 69-minute match at the Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium in Changzhou.

It was a second blow for the Malaysian camp this morning after defending champions Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani also crashed out in the opening round. The world No 3 pair were eliminated by South Korea’s Kang Min Hyuk-Ki Dong Ju who are ranked world No 40.

Soon Huat-Shevon were the losing finalists at last year’s China Open, where they lost to a home pair in three games.

Five more men’s doubles pairs and three women’s doubles pairs will be playing their opening matches later today.

Yesterday, men’s singles player Leong Jun Hao and mixed doubles pairs Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei and Wong Tien Ci-Lim Chiew Sien won their openers. They will be playing their second round matches tomorrow.

The prestigious championship offers US$140,000 (RM592,718) to the winners of singles events, while the runners-up get US$68,000.

As for the doubles events, the top prize is US$148,000, and the runners-up get US$40,000.