Kaloyana Nalbantova has ended her participation in the World Tour Super 500 badminton tournament in Kumamoto, Japan. The Bulgarian lost in the second round to China's Yu Fei Chen, ranked fourth in the world and seeded third in the draw, 17:21, 21:19, 20:22.
The match lasted one hour and 12 minutes and was closely contested. Nalbantova had a chance to close out the match at 20:19 in the decisive third game, but was unable to capitalize on her advantage. Yu Fei Chen won the next three rallies to secure the final victory.
The Bulgarian began the competition with a win over Canada's Michelle Li, who is ranked 16th in the world. Nalbantova won the first-round match 22:20, 21:16.
The tournament in Kumamoto has a prize fund of 500,000 dollars. Following Nalbantova's elimination, Bulgaria has no representative left in the women's singles draw.