Calcutta: Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna gave it a shot despite the latter’s rib injury before failing in the China Open Beijing on Thursday.

According to information received here, the top-seeded Indian pair went down 3-6, 0-6 to Chris Haggard (South Africa) and Yen-Hsun Lu (Taipei) in the first round.

Bopanna had dislocated a rib during his first round-singles match on Monday and had requested for an extra day to try and recover.

“There’s still some bruising but Rohan wanted to play and so we gave it a try,” said Bhupathi, adding that Bopanna should be fine for the Kingfisher Airlines Open in Mumbai from September 24.