It was a double blow for Nepal's Prince Dahal in the Under-17 & Under-15 Junior Championships at the Mandalar Thiri Multi-Purpose Stadium in Mandalay, Myanmar in the third round matches on Friday.
The newly crowned Dubai International Series champion was the top seed in men's Under-15 singles. He was also the top seed in the mixed doubles with Rasila Maharjan in the Under-15 mixed doubles.
However, the 14-year-old was beaten in both events. In the singles, he was handed a 15-21, 21-14, 19-21 defeat by India's unseeded S. Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian in a 47-minute encounter.
Earlier he was also on the losing end in the mixed doubles. Prince and Rasila were shown the exit in straight games 22-24, 9-21 by Thailand's unseeded Panitchaphon Teeraratsakul-Sirinad Pirabran.
An excited Sankar was more than happy with his over Prince and will meet Malaysia's Muhammad Fazriq Mohamad Razif in the quarter-finals later in the night.
"I played Fazriq in Indonesia recently and won in straight games. The win over Prince has boosted my confidence although this is the first time I played him in a tournament.
"Prince won a title in Dubai last week and to beat the top seed is an achievement. I believe I can beat Fazriq again," said Sankar.
Fazriq won a bronze at the same championships in Yangon last year. The Malaysian is seeded seventh this year. He battled through three games against Japan's Shun Saito 21-17,18-21, 21-12 in 55 minutes in his third round match.
Other Malaysians who made the quarter-finals are sixth seed Justin Hoh Shou Wei who beat India's Pranav Rao Gandham also in three games – 21-12, 16-21, 21-10 and P. Velayutham, 21-17, 21-16 winner over Upananda Rajkumar (India).
However, two other Malaysians. Choi Jian Sheng and Dylan Ooi Ding Sheng fell by the wayside in their third round matches against Indonesia's Jason Christ Alexander and Kuo Kuan Lin (Chinese Taipei) respectively.
Meanwhile, women's singles top seed Thamonwan Nithiitikrai of Thailand eased into the quarter-finals with a 21-10, 21-6 win over Korea's Park Seul. India's Tara Shah upset Japan's eighth seed Sorano Yoshikawa 21-18, 22-24, 21-17.
There was also a major upset in the women's doubles when top seeds Goh Sheun Tong-Lee Xin Jie of Malaysia were shown the exit by India's Meghana Reddy Mareddy-Tasnim Mir in straight games 22-20, 21-12.
In another upset Japan's Maki Kanehiro-Yurina Shichi defeated third seeds Sabrina Lee Jingyi-Ilisha Tanasekar of Singapore 21-13, 21-7.
