All England Badminton Championships 2019: Kidambi Srikanth and Sai Praneeth move into the 2nd round 

Kidambi Srikanth and Sai Praneeth moved into the 2nd round of All England Badminton Championships 2019.

Kidambi Srikanth and Sai Praneeth were the only Indian male shuttlers to progress into the 2nd round of prestigious Super 1000 All England Badminton Championships, played at Birmingham on Thursday. Sameer Verma and the doubles pair of Sumeeth Reddy and Manu Attri lost in the first round.

In an all Indian affair, Sai Praneeth defeated HS Prannoy in two straight sets. In the first game, both the Indian players took alternate points to level the scores at 8-8. At the interval, HS Prannoy led 11-9. After the interval, both players fought hard for each point again till 15-15. Sai Praneeth won the first set 21-19.

The second game began on a great note, with Sai Praneeth taking a commanding 10-6 lead. After the interval, HS Prannoy made strong comeback to take a 12-11 lead. Sai played with great control and won second set 21-19 to progress into the 2nd round. He will take on NG Ka Long of Hong Kong in 2nd round.

Kidambi Srikanth defeated France's Brice Leverdez in two straight games. It was a commanding performance by the Indian, who outplayed his opponent winning it 21-13, 21-11 to move into the 2nd round, where he will take on Jonathan Christie. Srikanth played with aggression and never allowed his opponent to play his natural game.

Sameer Verma fought out valiantly, losing to Denmark Viktor Axeslen in three gruelling sets. It was an amazing performance by the Indian, who showed his class, but the Dane's quality of play proved the difference. Sameer Verma won the first set 21-18 in closely fought game.

Victor palyed the second set aggressively, despite Sameer Verma's decent form. The Dane won the second set 21-18 to force the match into the decider. In the decider, Victor outplayed the Indian and won it 21-14.

The doubles pair of Sumeeth Reddy and Manu Attri lost to Chinese pair of Ou Xuanyi and Ren Xiangyu in three gruelling games. It was a closely fought match, with the young Chinese pair winning the first set 21-19. In the second set, the Indian pair came back strongly to win it 21-16, and force the match into the decider.

In the decider, the Chinese pair dominated the Indians, and won the third set 21-14 to move into the 2nd round of the prestigious tournament.