 "All England Championships: PV Sindhu advances to second round; Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy exit")
PV Sindhu on Tuesday advanced to the second round of the All England Championships in Birmingham after her opponent Yvonne Li retired after the first game. However, in men’s singles, Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy bowed out following first round defeats. Prannoy went down 21-14, 13-21, 13-21 to Chinese Taipei’s Su Li Yang whereas Srikanth suffered a 9-21, 9-21 defeat to World No 1 Victor Axelsen. This leaves Lakshya Sen and Priyanshu Rajawat as the only contenders in men’s singles for India.
World No.1 Viktor Axelsen 🇩🇰 goes up against Kidambi Srikanth 🇮🇳.#BWFWorldTour #AllEngland2024 pic.twitter.com/5KqyOe2Hq7
— BWF (@bwfmedia) March 12, 2024
Sindhu had won the first game 21-10 before her German opponent decided to retire. The 28-year-old from Hyderabad is likely to next face top seed Korean An Se Young, who has proved her nemesis, having defeated her all six times they have crossed paths in international badminton.
In fact, only once has Sindhu managed to take a game away from the world No. 1 Korean when they met last time at the Asia Championships in Dubai last year. An Se Young, who is recovering from a right knee injury, secured her second title of the season at the French Open last Sunday.
Sindhu and Li seemed to have an initial battle when they were 4-4 but the Indian soon pulled away to grab a 11-7 lead at the break. She extended the advantage without much ado. Eventually, a flick serve was dumped into the net by Li as Sindhu grabbed 11 game points and converted when the German went long.
The 23-year-old Sen will face Denmark’s Magnus Johannesen in his opening round on Wednesday. Aakarshi Kashyap too bowed out with a 16-21 11-21 loss to Pai Yu Po of Chinese Taipei in the opening round. Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand will face Indonesia’s Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti later in the day.
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand will face Indonesia’s Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti later in the day.
With PTI inputs
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