All England: PV Sindhu storms into 2nd round, HS Prannoy suffers 1st-round exit
It was a mixed start to India’s campaign in the All England Open badminton championship as two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu stormed into the women’s singles second round.
On the other hand, top-ranked Indian men’s singles player, HS Prannoy, was shown the door in the opening round along with women’s singles shuttler Akarshi Kashyap in Birmingham on Tuesday, March 12.
Later in the day, former World No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth also suffered a first-round exit, losing to Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen. Srikanth suffered a tame loss as he went down 9-21, 9-21, in just 33 minutes.
Sindhu, who showed glimpses of return to form in Paris last week, progressed to the second round without breaking a sweat as her first-round opponent Li Yvonne of Germany retired hurt after losing the opening game 10-21. Sindhu spent very little time on the court on Tuesday.
Sindhu is all set to face a stiff challenge in the second round as she is likely to take on World No. 1 An Se Young of Korea. Sindhu has met An 6 times on the tour and has not managed to beat the top-ranked shuttler even once. An will face Taipei’s Wen Chi Hsu in her first-round match on Wednesday.
ANOTHER EARLY EXIT FOR PRANNOY
Meanwhile, HS Prannoy suffered a first-round exit after losing to lower-ranked and unseeded Li Yang Su of Taipei in 3 games in an hour and 7 minutes in Birmingham. Prannoy won the opening game 21-14, but he lost the last two games by 13-21 margins to bow out of the competition.
Prannoy’s form in the Olympic year is concerning as the World No. 8 has suffered first-round exits in 4 of the 5 tournaments this year, including last week’s French Open. Prannoy, who won an Asian Games medal last year, reached the semi-final in the India Open, but the veteran player will need better showings in the lead-up to the Paris Games.
Akarshi Kashyap, ranked No. 43 in women’s singles, lost her first-round match to Taiwan’s Pai Yu Po in straight games — 16-21, 11-21 in just 36 minutes, leaving Sindhu as the lone Indian left in the women’s singles field.
Later in the day, India’s Kidambi Srikanth will face a stiff test against reigning Olympic champion and World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen in the men’s singles first-round match.
On Wednesday, Lakshya Sen and the doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty along with women’s doubles pairing of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa will be in action in their respective first-round matches.
India is looking to end a 23-year-long wait for an All England Open champion as chief coach Pullela Gopichand was the last man from the country to win the prestigious crown. Lakshya Sen reached the final in 2022 before losing to Axelsen.