Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu advanced to the second round of the women's singles competition while HS Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth and the pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand stumbled in their opening round at the All England Championships in Birmingham on March 12.
World No. 11 Sindhu, a former world champion, claimed the first game 21-10. However, her German opponent, world No. 26 Li Yvonne Li, retired, granting Sindhu passage to the next round.
Sindhu set to face An Se Young
The 28-year-old from Hyderabad is likely to face top seed Korean An Se Young in the next round, who has proven to be a formidable opponent, defeating her in all six of their previous encounters in international badminton. Sindhu has only managed to win a game once against the world No. 1 Korean when they last met at the Asia Championships in Dubai last year.
An Se Young, currently recovering from a right knee injury, clinched her second title of the season at the French Open on March 10.
Sindhu and Li initially battled, reaching a 4-4 tie before Sindhu took control and led 11-7 at the break. She then extended her lead comfortably and clinched the game when Li made an error, sending her serve into the net.
Treesa and Gayatri crash out
Meanwhile, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand crashed out by a margin of 18-21, 12-21 against Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti in their opening-round match.
Prannoy, Srikanth suffer defeat
In men's singles, it was another disappointing day for world No. 8 Prannoy as he lost to Chinese Taipei's Su Li Yang 21-14 13-21 13-21, marking his second consecutive first-round exit following the French Open last week.
Later, Srikanth faced a crushing defeat against top seed and world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen 9-21 9-21, leaving 2022 runner-up Lakshya Sen and Priyanshu Rajawat as the only contenders in men's singles for India. 23-year-old Sen will play against Denmark's Magnus Johannesen in his opening round on March 13.
Aakarshi Kashyap also exited the tournament 16-21 11-21 loss to Pai Yu Po of Chinese Taipei in the opening round.
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